Worldwide furniture production
Germany holds third place

Global furniture production in 2018 was over $ 460 billion. By far the largest producer is China, where 39% of the world's furniture originates. This is followed at some distance by the USA, Germany, Italy, India, Poland and Vietnam. Of the furniture produced worldwide, 54% come from Asia and the Pacific, 26% from Europe and 17% from America.

These figures emerge from the "World Furniture Outlook 2019", for which the CSIL has investigated 100 countries that together account for 90% of the world's population and 95% of global GDP.

Furniture exports: Chinese dominance continues to grow

Unstoppable seems to be the dominance of the Chinese in the worldwide furniture exports. After falling for the first time in years (-6%) in 2016, furniture exports from the Middle Kingdom have been on the rise again since then, reaching a record high of around US $ 53 billion in 2018. This is followed at a distance by Germany (11.9 billion US dollars), Poland (11.8 billion US dollars), Italy (11.5 billion US dollars) and Vietnam (9.7 billion US dollars). Where currently Vietnam and Poland are the fastest growing furniture exporters.

Furniture imports: USA clearly ahead

For China (37%) and Vietnam (60%), the US is the number one customer. Also, the United States is by far the largest furniture importer with a value of around $ 38 billion. Germany (US $ 14.3 billion), France (US $ 8.2 billion), Great Britain (US $ 7.6 billion) and Canada (US $ 5.9 billion) followed. Among these top 5 importers, Germany has not China, but Poland (26%) as the main country of origin for furniture.

Worldwide furniture trade is rising

Overall, the value of international trade in furniture in 2018 was around $ 150 billion, up 6% over 2017. Since 2009, this value was still 96 billion US dollars. For 2019 and 2020, the CSIL expects similar growth as last year.