Wood furniture production in EU sliding even before pandemic

Wood furniture production in EU sliding even before pandemic

Newly released Eurostat data indicates that the value of EU27+UK wood furniture production was €42.5 billion in 2019, 1.4% less than the previous year.

In retrospect, it looks as if the rebound in EU wood furniture production following the 2008 economic crises peaked as early as 2017, as 2019 was the second straight year of decline and the COVID-19 pandemic has damaged market prospects in 2020. Last year, EU wood furniture production was still 20% down, in real terms adjusted for inflation, compared to the years just prior to the 2008 crises.

Last year, there was a sharp downturn in wood furniture production in Italy (-8% to €9.1 billion), and a more moderate decline in Germany (-3% to €7.2 billion), France (-2% to €2.1 billion), Romania (-3% to €1.8 billion), and Sweden (-1% to €1.0 billion). These declines were only partly offset by rising production in Poland (+1% to €6.7 billion), UK (+5% to €3.4 billion), Spain (+4% to €2.5 billion), Lithuania (+10% to €1.7 billion), Denmark (+2% to €0.8 billion) and the Netherlands (+1% to €0.7 billion).

Production was stable in Portugal during the year, at €1.1 billion.

European wood furniture manufacturers lost internal EU market share to overseas producers in 2019, although they remained very dominant overall. In 2019, 86.4% of all wood furniture sales in the EU27+UK market comprised products manufactured within the EU27+UK, a marginally lower percentage than the previous year (87.6%).

EU27+UK wood furniture consumption was €40.4 billion in 2019, a gain of 0.6% compared to 2018. In 2019, consumption increased in the UK (+6% to €6.7 billion), France (+2% to €4.5 billion), Spain (+8% to €2.6 billion), Netherlands (+8% to €1.7 billion), Romania (+3% to €1.2 billion), Austria (+7% to €0.9 billion), and Belgium (+2% to €0.9 billion). However, consumption fell 11% to €5.2 billion in Sweden, 3% to €1.5 billion in Poland, and 7% to €1.0 billion in Sweden.

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