China Becomes The Third Largest Source Of German Kitchen Furniture Imports

China Becomes The Third Largest Source Of German Kitchen Furniture Imports

From January to March 2022, the furniture industry in Germany had a total of 451 companies with a turnover of approximately €4.8 billion. The industry-wide export rate was 32.24%. This means that about one-third of German furniture is sold abroad. Among them, the export rate of German kitchen furniture products is even higher, with more than 40% of products sold abroad. In addition to Europe, China is the largest export market for German kitchen furniture.

According to data released by the German Kitchen Furniture Industry Association, 51 companies in the German kitchen furniture industry generated a turnover of about 1.6 billion euros between January and March 2022. The current export rate for the entire kitchen furniture industry is 43.83%. The industry is predominantly medium-sized, with an average company size of 359 employees.

Data from an internal survey by the German Kitchen Furniture Industry Association shows that in March 2022, the total number of orders received by the kitchen furniture industry increased by 20.23% compared to the previous year. The volume of orders from Germany increased by 32.93% and the volume of orders from abroad increased by 6.74%. In March 2022, the German kitchen furniture industry grew by about 609 million euros, which is 17.94% more than in the same month last year.

However, the economic situation took a significant downturn in April and business expectations are expected to be significantly more negative in the next six months. In March 2022, the number of employees in the kitchen furniture industry increased by 6.24% to 18,410. Workers’ working hours increased by 1.98% compared to the previous year.

In January-December 2021, exports of kitchen furniture products from Germany increased by 17.48%. The most important export market was France, followed by the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. Germany’s most important export market for kitchen furniture outside Europe is China. In 2021, its exports grew by 2.50% year-on-year.

At the same time, more kitchen furniture was imported into the German market in 2021, with an increase of 48.34%. In 2021, the top five major import markets for German kitchen furniture are Poland, Italy, China, Austria and Lithuania. Among them, China has the fastest growth rate, up 108.90% year-on-year, far exceeding countries such as Poland, Italy, Austria and Lithuania.