While Japan’s office furniture imports have remained remarkably stable over the past 12 months, more volatilty has been observed in the value of both kitchen and bedroom furniture demand for which is affected by consumer spending and willingness to purchase durable goods, items on which spending can easily be deferred.
In April this year kitchen furniture imports fell well below the average monthly flow. For bedroom furniture a declining trend in imports first became noticeable in March and continued into April after which import values steadied.
Office furniture imports (HS 940330)
Year on year, imports of office furniture in May 2016 were up 8% but compared to the previous month May imports were down 6%. From the highs in January this year Japan’s imports of wooden office furniture have consistently fallen. Business confidence and a lack of investment in production capacity across enterprises of all sizes has dampened demand for office furniture.
| Imports May 2016 Unit 1,000 Yen S. Korea China 136187 Taiwan P.o.C 14092 Hong Kong 648 Vietnam - Thailand - Malaysia 2916 Philippines 328 Indonesia 5411 Sweden - Denmark 2795 UK 704 Netherlands - Belgium - France 722 Germany 12578 Switzerland 630 Portugal 39757 Italy 12210 Finland - Poland 5886 Hungary 284 Lithuania 1826 Czech Rep. - Slovakia 2226 Canada - USA 5328 New Zealand - Total 244528 |
China and Portugal continue as top ranked suppliers of wooden office furniture but in May this year shippers in Taiwan P.o.C leapt into the top three. It should be noted that China alone ships more wooden office furniture to Japan than the combined shipments from all other suppliers.
Suppliers in Asia account for most wooden furniture shipments to Japan with only Germany and Italy shipping a significant value of wooden office furniture.
Kitchen furniture imports (HS 940340)
In contrast to the sharp fall in Japan’s imports of kitchen furniture in April, May saw an equally sharp increase bringing shipments up to around the average for the year to date. Year on year May imports of wooden kitchen furniture rose 7.5% and month on month May 2016 imports were up 9.5% on levels in April.
Vietnam shippers dominate Japan’s imports of wooden kitchen furniture followed by the Philippines. The surprise in May was that Indonesia replaced China as the third largest supplier.
| Imports, May 2016 Unit 1,000 Yen S. Korea - China 133334 Taiwan P.o.C 224 Vietnam 391247 Thailand 12664 Malaysia 13867 Philippines 319484 Indonesia 158419 India - Denmark - UK 1485 France - Germany 27820 Italy 7624 Poland 261 Austria - Romania - Slovenia 12184 Canada 7711 USA 2114 Total 1088438 |
May imports of wooden kitchen furniture from Vietnam were up 7% month on month with the Philippines posting a 26% rise in shipments and Indonesia seeing shipments rise 7%.
Germany features as the top non-Asian supplier of wooden kitchen furniture and in May was joined for the first time by Slovenia.
Bedroom furniture imports (HS 940350)
There was almost no change in the value of Japan’s wooden bedroom furniture imports over the past two months but year on year imports in May 2016 were up 15%.
Two countries, China and Vietnam, account for over 87% of all wooden bedroom furniture imports into Japan. The only other significant shipper is Malaysia but, at just 3% of all wooden bedroom furniture imports, the challenge is to capture market share from the top two suppliers.
| Imports, May 2016 Unit 1,000 Yen S. Korea 503 China 1170704 Taiwan P.o.C 28373 Vietnam 590431 Thailand 70297 Malaysia 51398 Philippines 1813 Indonesia 14591 Cambodia - Pakistan - Sweden 2781 Denmark 5684 UK 226 Netherlands 763 Belgium - France 2160 Germany - Switzerland - Spain 238 Italy 7428 Poland 24145 Russia - Austria 222 Romania 6669 Turkey - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania 32064 Croatia 1100 Bosnia/Herzegovina 539 Slovakia 2721 Canada 223 USA 1583 Mexico - Australia - Total 2016656 |
Source: ITTO
