The latest Eurostat trade data for EU wood furniture trade indicates that internal EU trade is rising, whereas external trade is broadly flat, both on the import and export side.
Internal EU trade in wood furniture, which increased 4% to €19.3 billion in 2017, increased a further 6% in the first nine months of 2018. The rise in internal EU trade is driven mainly by exports from Poland, particularly to Germany, and from the Netherlands to several neighbouring countries including Germany, France and Belgium.
Wood furniture production is rising in Poland, while more imports into the EU from outside the region are now being funnelled via the Netherlands.
Meanwhile the pace of EU wood furniture exports to nonEU countries, which were flat at €8.7 billion in 2016 and 2017, continued at the same rate in the first nine months of 2018. EU exports to the USA, China and Russia have increased slightly this year but these gains have been offset by declining exports to Switzerland, Norway, Canada and UAE.
Wood furniture imports into the EU from outside the region increased 9% to €6.3 billion in 2017. Import value in the first nine months of 2018 was €4.7 billion, 1.6% less than the same period in 2017. After a strong start last year, imports slowed a little from May 2018 onwards.
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