Import gains ease in '03
8% increase compares to 14.3% in 2002
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, April 30, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT—With 2004 promising a wild ride in world trade, figures for 2003 show the U.S. appetite for imported furniture still is growing, but not at the double-digit rate that characterized the previous several years.
Imports rose 8% in 2003 to $15.6 billion, a slowdown compared to the 2002 gain of 14.3%. Stubbornly sluggish retail conditions and uncertainty about U.S. tariffs proposed for Chinese-made wood bedroom furniture are likely contributors to the pullback in import expansion.
Growth in Chinese-made furniture once again outpaced the world. The U.S. bought $6.8 billion of Chinese product last year, up 19% from 2002. More than 43 cents of every U.S. dollar spent on imported furniture in 2003 went to China, up from 40 cents in 2002 and 33 cents in 2001.
This fast-growth track is unlikely to continue, particularly if a group of some 30 U.S. furniture makers succeeds with its petition to impose tariffs on Chinese wood bedroom furniture.
A decision on antidumping tariffs, which as proposed could range as high as 440%, is expected by June 17. The U.S. manufacturers accuse Chinese producers of selling below cost.
For 2003, however, China again was the big winner and almost single-handedly accounted for the 8% growth in total U.S. furniture imports. The global total rose about $1.2 billion, with China's gain at $1.1 billion.
As an illustration of China's burgeoning role in world furniture manufacturing, the Shenzhen Furniture Assn. reported to the Xinhua news service that its members' furniture sales grew 52% in 2003 to total $3 billion, with nearly half the total exported.
China's rapid rise is blamed for the loss of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates the U.S. furniture industry has lost 34,700 jobs since 2000, about 28% of the total workforce.
Imports of wood bedroom furniture from all countries, the second-largest import category for the United States, grew 16% in 2003 to total $1.6 billion. China represented 47% of the category's total at $764 million, up 46% from 2002's $524 million.
Perhaps signaling producers' preparation for tariffs, wood bedroom saw sharp increases in the amounts imported from Malaysia (up 50% for a $56 million total), Vietnam (up 283% for an import total of $22 million) and Thailand (up 13% to $19 million).
Ethan Allen's chairman, Farooq Kathwari, said last month that production is moving to Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines and away from China in part because of the proposed tariffs.
"I don't think (tariffs are) going to stop the flow of products coming into the United States," Kathwari told the Reuters Consumer Products and Retail Summit in New York.
Ethan Allen, which makes 70% of its furniture in the United States, has maintained a neutral stance on the tariffs, in part due to its retail presence in China in partnership with Markor.
Vietnam's rise in prominence is plainly visible in the import numbers. Poised to crack the Top 10 source countries this year, Vietnam sent 128% more furniture to the United States last year than in 2002, a total of $167 million, putting the country at No. 11.
For domestic producers already weary of battling China's roughly 30% pricing edge in labor and production costs, Vietnam poses a threat, particularly with big retailers getting larger shares of their product assortments directly from overseas factories.
The United States' second-largest source country for the past five years, Canada, was flat in 2003 at $2.2 billion. Canadian exports to the United States also were flat in 2002.
No. 3 Italy saw a 2% increase to $1.3 billion in 2003, a more measured pace than 2002's 11% jump. No. 4 Mexico also recorded a modest increase, sending 4% more furniture northward last year compared with 2002, for a total of $848.6 million.
And No. 5 Taiwan, which has tumbled as China has climbed, sold 13% less furniture to the United States last year, a total of $517 million.
Other than China, the only Top 10 country to see a double-digit increase was No. 9 Brazil, up 19% to $321 million. The increase comes on the heels of 2002's remarkable 38% expansion over 2001.
The Philippines continues to struggle, seeing U.S. demand dip 12% in 2003 to $186 million.
Indonesia's furniture exports to the United States slipped 3% in 2003 and likely will decline further this year.
The Assn. of Indonesian Furniture and Wood Products Manufacturers has predicted a $300 million decline in exports because of tighter logging regulations and resulting wood shortages.
| Imports | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Leading sources of U.S. imported household furniture and principal products, Jan.-Dec. 2003 | |||
| in millions of dollars | |||
| 2003 | 2002 revised | % change from 2002 | |
| China | $6,847.5 | $5,771.2 | 19% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 1,708.1 | 1,434.8 | 19 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 764.1 | 523.8 | 46 |
| Metal household furniture | 502.2 | 617.2 | -19 |
| Metal outdoor seats with textile covered cushions¹ | 480.4 | 420.5 | 14 |
| Wood beds | 398.6 | 293.6 | 36 |
| Canada | $2,204.0 | $2,202.6 | 0% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 549.6 | 557.9 | -1 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 321.0 | 328.5 | -2 |
| Wood furniture parts | 197.4 | 208.9 | -5 |
| Upholstered seats, metal frame¹ | 150.3 | 143.1 | 5 |
| Upholstered seats, wood frame¹ | 142.5 | 137.9 | 3 |
| Italy | $1,335.5 | $1,308.6 | 2% |
| Upholstered seats,wood frame¹ | 418.5 | 401.6 | 4 |
| Misc. wood furniture | 177.6 | 185.8 | -4 |
| Upholstered chairs, wood frame | 143.3 | 131.3 | 9 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 121.3 | 136.9 | -11 |
| Leather for upholstery | 76.1 | 85.9 | -11 |
| Mexico | $848.6 | $819.3 | 4% |
| Upholstered seats, wood frame¹ | 223.0 | 190.7 | 17 |
| Misc. wood furniture | 156.2 | 158.2 | -1 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 80.6 | 100.9 | -20 |
| Wood furniture parts | 67.4 | 65.5 | 3 |
| Upholstered seats, metal frame¹ | 50.2 | 41.9 | 20 |
| Taiwan | $516.5 | $595.9 | -13% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 101.4 | 125.4 | -19 |
| Metal furniture & parts | 62.7 | 34.1 | 84 |
| Upholstered seats, metal frame¹ | 51.9 | 44.0 | 18 |
| Metal furniture parts | 42.2 | 34.7 | 22 |
| Metal household furniture | 39.0 | 78.6 | -50 |
| Indonesia | $509.4 | $527.4 | -3% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 197.3 | 194.8 | 1 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 72.1 | 70.6 | 2 |
| Wood beds | 52.7 | 58.5 | -10 |
| Wood chairs | 29.7 | 31.5 | -6 |
| Teak chairs, non-upholstered | 26.8 | 24.4 | 10 |
| Malaysia | $507.7 | $475.0 | 7% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 143.8 | 140.0 | 3 |
| Wood chairs | 77.9 | 80.8 | -4 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 55.6 | 37.1 | 50 |
| Wood dining tables | 47.4 | 53.6 | -12 |
| Wood furniture parts | 40.4 | 40.8 | -1 |
| Thailand | $375.2 | $362.2 | 4% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 180.0 | 164.7 | 9 |
| Wood chairs | 36.9 | 35.6 | 4 |
| Wood kitchen furniture² | 19.0 | 25.6 | -26 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 18.5 | 16.4 | 13 |
| Wood dining tables | 15.7 | 21.9 | -28 |
| Brazil | $320.8 | $268.7 | 19% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 68.4 | 65.4 | 4 |
| Leather for upholstery | 62.1 | 43.5 | 43 |
| Wood bedroom furniture | 54.2 | 54.5 | -1 |
| Wood beds | 40.1 | 30.6 | 31 |
| Upholstered seats, wood frame¹ | 27.0 | 11.5 | 135 |
| Philippines | $185.9 | $212.2 | -12% |
| Misc. wood furniture | 75.5 | 73.9 | 2 |
| Rattan seats¹ | 21.4 | 20.1 | 6 |
| Rattan furniture | 16.9 | 20.6 | -18 |
| Metal household furniture | 10.5 | 28.5 | -63 |
| Furniture of other materials | 10.4 | 11.7 | -11 |
| WORLD TOTAL | $15,610.4 | $14,388.5 | 8% |
| 1. A "seat" is any product for sitting that is not a "chair." 2. Wood kitchen furniture does not include cabinets for permanent installation. Source: U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. International Trade Commission. |
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