The Chinese furniture industry consists of more than 50,000 companies and over 5 million employees; this equals and average of 100 employees per company (CNFA 2003). Most of these furniture manufacturers are small to medium sized operations with annual sales less than $36 million ($U.S.). Large-sized companies only account for 3 percent of the total industry. At least 80% of Chinese furniture companies are not state owned; there is a diversified range of ownership types, including foreign owned, domestic Chinese privately owned, stock-holding companies, as well as various joint ventures.
As reported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), it was confirmed that China overtook Italy to become the world's largest exporter of wooden furniture in 2005. As such, China has now become the most powerful nation for the export and production of solid wood furniture. The growth is astonishing, export furniture shipments from China increased 560 percent over a period of six years, or 33 percent annually, reaching $7.3 billion in 2003 from 1.3 billion in 1997 (CNFA 2003). During 1997-2003, the domestic Chinese market consumed more than 70 percent of the furniture industry’s gross output and grew an average of 14 percent every year.
Wood furniture products represent the largest category exported, accounting for 39 percent of total export value of shipments. This is followed by metal furniture (13%) and furniture parts/components (5%) (CNFA 2004).
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2000 Furniture Production & Exports
Statistics show that the value in 2000 hit 120 billion Yuan (US$14.5 billion) and exports, US$3.56 billion.
2001 Furniture Production & Exports
The output value of the country's furniture sector in 2001 US$16.90 billion. Total exports reached 3.9 Billion Dollars.
2002 Furniture Production & Exports
Furniture exports in 2002 were worth US$5.4 billion, 36.5 per cent more than in 2001, according to CNFA statistics. Total production output value of the country's furniture sector last year was 165 billion Yuan (US$19.95 billion), up 17 per cent from the previous year, according to primary statistics from the China National Furniture Association.
2003 Furniture Production & Exports
The industry realized 204 billion Yuan in output value in 2003, an increase of 23.7 per cent, and US$7.3 billion in export, up 35.4 per cent.
2004 Furniture Production & Exports
According to customs statistics, China's total furniture exports reached US$10.353 billion in 2004, a surge of 39.3% year-on-year. Of this, exports of wood furniture were $919.457 million, up 23.44%; metal furniture, $482.132 million, up 47.62%; and plastic furniture, $58.127 million, up 40.61%. Export of other types of furniture was $1.51 billion, including $19.29 million worth of mattresses, up 50.2%, and $132.279 million of furniture parts, up 38.95%. It must be noted that during the same period, furniture has become the nation's fifth largest export commodity, with roughly one-third of the industry's total production being exported every year (CNFA 2003, 2004, 2005).
2005 Furniture Production & Exports
In 2005, the furniture output was 339.9 million pieces, rising 11.41% compared to 2004; the total production value (at current price) of the furniture manufacturing industry reached RMB 138.904 billion, and the sales revenue amounted to RMB 133.706 million, each up 27.40% and 27.43% over the same period of 2004. In 2005, China’s furniture export value reached USD 13.767 billion, a year-on-year growth of 32.98%.
2006 Furniture Production & Exports
The furniture production value in 2006 was RMB 430 billion, more than 330 times the Furniture production value in 1978, which was 1.3 billion RMB. In wood furniture alone, exports rose 39% to $8.78 billion in 2006. Wooden furniture remained the main export product, accounting for 32% of China’s total timber product exports (Source: ITTO). China’s wooden furniture comprised 5 categories, namely wooden frame seats, office furniture, kitchen furniture, bedroom furniture and other furniture. China’s main wooden furniture markets were the USA. |
