German Furniture industry
Uneven in the first quarter of 2018

The economic results of the German furniture industry in the first quarter of 2018 show strong deviations in the individual segments of the industry. This explained Dr. Lucas Heumann (photo), chief executive officer of the furniture industry associations, on presentation of statistics for the first three months of 2018.
According to the association, the economic engine is still the German kitchen furniture industry. The Federal Statistical Office shows an increase in turnover of +1.9%, which is mainly supplied by the international business with +4.2%. Domestic business, on the other hand, rose only slightly, with an increase of +0.5%.
Thus, the German kitchen furniture industry Heumann, overcome her period of weakness in 2017. The previous year was known to have closed with a decline in revenue of -3.8%. The positive trend is expected to continue in the following three quarters of the year.
According to the chief executive, sales growth is likely to increase in the following quarters. This takes the Association of German kitchen furniture industry e.V. of its internal job statistics, according to the Association - in terms of sales volume - over 90% of the industry participates. For the first quarter of 2018, internal statistics show a + 15.5% increase in new orders, which is almost evenly distributed between Germany (+15.7%) and foreign countries (+15.2%).
Dr. Lucas Heumann: "Today's orders are the revenues of tomorrow. As a result, the positive order trend in the second and third quarters of 2018 should also be reflected in the sales figures. Therefore, we believe that the first quarter revenue growth can even be increased during the year. "By contrast, the statistics on the development of the German upholstered furniture industry reveal a completely different picture. Here, the Federal Statistical Office recorded a decline in sales of -5.6% in the first quarter of 2018, whereby the decline in domestic sales was much stronger at -7.3% than at -2.3% in international business.
The internal statistics of the Association of the German upholstered furniture industry e.V (VdDP), however, shows a slightly different development. Although, according to information from the member companies of the association, incoming orders in the first quarter are declining, but "only" -3.4%.
The reasons for this deviation see the VdDP in different participant circle. Dr. Lucas Heumann: "The official statistics only include sales from companies domiciled in Germany. The foreign production of companies in the German upholstered furniture industry is not recorded at all. And in companies with locations both in Germany and abroad, only the sales of domestic companies are recorded."
Dr. Heumann continues: "Our own order statistics are structured differently. We want to measure the German market and therefore have deliberately also involved companies with foreign production, and even distribution companies, which have a relevant position in the upholstery sector on the domestic market."
In the field of living, dining and bedroom furniture, the Association of the German Furniture Industry e.V. finds a nearly stagnant development. Incoming orders in this sector of the industry rose by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2018, with domestic growth of +1.3% being better than that of the foreign trade of -2.0%.
Verifiable data from the Federal Statistical Office are available for the "Housing" segment according to Dr. Ing. Heumann on the other hand not before. "The area of living-dining and bedroom furniture is in the official statistics subsumed under 'Other furniture and furniture parts' and makes there in terms of value only 30% of the survey. Thus, the official data for 'other furniture and furniture parts' for the assessment of the economic development of the living-dining and bedroom furniture industry in fact not usable, "said the chief executive of the Herford Association.