According to the CSIL World Furniture Outlook 2016, world furniture production is worth more than US$ 400 billion. Around 35% of the value is exported, whereas 65% is consumed in the countries where production takes place. CSIL furniture consumption growth for the years 2017 is about 2% in real terms with higher increases in Asia and North America, modest growth in Europe and a decrease of furniture consumption in South America.
All over the latest years, Spain has seen a rise of its furniture export revenue and the positive trend keeps on. If at the end of 2015, Spain’s exports of furniture grew by 9.8%, in the first semester of 2016 they increased by 12.4%, amounting to 1,003 million euros.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | % 15/14 | |
| January-December | 1,603 | 1,692 | 1,857 | 9.8% |
SOURCE: Estacom, in million euros
On the import side, figures indicate that, compared to the same period in 2015, Spain’s furniture imports were worth 1,492 million euros, which represents an increase by 10.7%.
Import and export figures reveal that the deficit of the Spanish trade balance amounted to -488,989 million euros, while the import/export coverage ratio made up 67.2%.
Exports by destination: Spain’s main markets for furniture
| Jan-Jun 2015 | Jan-Jun 2016 | % over total | % var. | |
| France | 220.8 | 270.0 | 26.9% | 22.3% |
| Portugal | 93.4 | 118.4 | 11.8% | 26.7% |
| Germany | 87.2 | 84.9 | 8.5% | -2.7% |
| United Kingdom | 45.9 | 49.4 | 4.9% | 7.7% |
| U.S.A. | 35.9 | 45.8 | 4.6% | 27.4% |
| Italy | 35.5 | 40.3 | 4.0% | 13.6% |
| Morocco | 31.4 | 33.6 | 3.3% | 7.0% |
| The Netherlands | 27.7 | 33.1 | 3.3% | 19.4% |
| Belgium | 22.2 | 20.7 | 2.1% | -6.7% |
| Mexico | 23.2 | 20.4 | 2.0% | -12.3% |
| Saudi Arabia | 29.6 | 19.1 | 1.9% | -35.5% |
| Dominican Republic | 5.8 | 14.6 | 1.5% | 150.7% |
| Switzerland | 12.5 | 12.8 | 1.3% | 2.4% |
| Qatar | 8.2 | 11.7 | 1.2% | 41.6% |
| Russia | 11.4 | 11.2 | 1.1% | -1.1% |
SOURCE: Estacom, in million euros
With a rich offer in styles and product ranges and with its unique emotional approach, Furniture from Spain has consolidated its presence in biggest EU countries: France, Portugal, Germany and the United Kingdom, which rank 1st to 4th among Spain’s major markets and concentrate 52.1% of total exports.
Looking at major markets, France, whose furniture purchases from Spain amounted to 270.0 million euros, stands out as the top importer of Spanish furniture. With a share of 26.9% of Spanish exports, France consumes as much Spanish products as Portugal, Germany, and United Kingdom altogether (25.2%). France is therefore a crucial market for the Spanish furniture industry that should keep on investing in this country in order to maintain its elevate market share.
On the other hand, considering that a strong dependency on a market or the excessive market concentration in the UE countries is not positive, Spanish brands have striven to diversify their destination markets by increasing their presence on other areas and continents.
As a results, Spanish furniture has gained important positions in the United States, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, where CEO of Spanish furniture companies have focused their market strategies for both the residential and contract markets.
This way, significant increases have been registered in exports to America. With imports of Spanish furniture growing by +27.4% to 45.8 million euros, the U.S.A. earned the 5th position in the ranking and it is now the first international destination market just behind the UE countries.
While exports to Mexico decreased slightly, sales to the Dominican Republic picked up to 14.6 million euros, registering an encouraging +150.7%.
In North Africa and the Gulf Region, good results have been reported in Morocco (+7.0%) and Qatar (+41.6%), which trust Spanish furniture companies for their high-end residential, commercial and hospitality projects. Positive results in minor markets, such as Equatorial Guinea (+3.2%), Argelia (+5.7%) and Turkey (+23.7%), show the effort that Spanish companies put in expanding in less saturated markets and in diversifying their clients’ base.
Due to the economic slowdown and the international sanctions, exports of Spanish furniture to Russia fell sharply over the latest years and the country slipped down from the 5th position of 2013 to the current 15th in the rank of main partners for Spanish furniture.
Nevertheless, Russia is still a promising market for the Spanish furniture companies because of its dimension and strategic position. It should also be pointed out that Russia is above all an importer country as far as manufacturing products are concerned and, although economic growth is still absent, recent data suggest that the recovery remains on track.
The increase of exports to traditional as well as to emerging markets shows how hard Spain’s companies are working to compensate the stagnation of domestic sales and strengthen their brand recognition abroad. The rank of destination markets shows also an encouraging trend toward the diversification of markets in Europe, America, Africa and Asia.