Japan's office kitchen and bedroom furniture imports from 2009 to the end of January 2014 are shown below. Imports of bedroom furniture exhibited a cyclical trend between 2009 and 2012. However, from 2012 bedroom furniture imports began to increase and have continued upwards since.
January 2014 imports marked a new high for monthly imports of bedroom furniture. January imports of office and kitchen furniture expanded sharply a reflection of the firm housing market and the desire on the part of businesses and the public to purchase furniture before the consumption tax is raised in April.
Office furniture imports (HS 9403.30)
January 2014 office furniture imports into Japan were around 40% higher than for the same month in 2013 and sharply up on December 2013 imports. The top suppliers of office furniture to Japan during January were China (53%) Poland (12%) and Portugal (7%) accounting for some 72% of all office furniture imports.
If imports from Malaysia and Indonesia are added to the imports from China then Asian suppliers accounted for close to 60% of Japan's January 2014 office furniture imports with the balance coming from EU suppliers.
January 2014 Office furniture imports
Imports 2014 January Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
China | 193061 |
Taiwan P.o.C. | 19188 |
Thailand | 1889 |
Malaysia | 16116 |
Indonesia | 14770 |
Sweden | 11579 |
Denmark | 954 |
UK | 1604 |
Germany | 2988 |
Portugal | 24193 |
Italy | 16196 |
Poland | 44628 |
Lithuania | 6518 |
Slovakia | 6374 |
Mexico | 285 |
Total | 365412 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan
Kitchen furniture imports (HS 9403.40)
Imports of kitchen furniture in January 2014 were one of the highest since 2009. January 2014 kitchen furniture imports were 13% higher than in January 2013 and 17% higher than in December 2013. Vietnam (37%), China (26%) and Philippines (16%) accounted for the bulk of the kitchen furniture imports in January 2014.
If imports from Thailand and Indonesia are included in the sub total above then Asian suppliers accounted for over 90% of Japan's kitchen furniture imports Of the non-Asian suppliers Germany and the US were in the top 20 suppliers but could together only secure a modest 5% market share.
January 2014 Kitchen furniture imports
Imports Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
China | 322104 |
Taiwan P.o.C. | 5572 |
Vietnam | 446561 |
Thailand | 7222 |
Malaysia | 26267 |
Philippines | 197776 |
Indonesia | 126485 |
UK | 753 |
Germany | 31661 |
Italy | 18299 |
Romania | 2996 |
Lithuania | 1046 |
Canada | 386 |
USA | 28806 |
Total | 1214934 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan
Bedroom furniture imports (HS 9403.50)
Japan's imports of bedroom furniture steadily increased throughout 2013 and there was a surge in imports in January 2014 lifting the monthly value of imports to a new record high.
Compared to imports in January a year early, 2014 January imports were up 36.5% and compared to imports in the previous month of December, imports rose 24%.
January 2014 Bedroom furniture imports
Imports 2014 January Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
China | 1434825 |
Taiwan P.o.C. | 38674 |
Hong Kong | 540981 |
Vietnam | 80859 |
Thailand | 990 |
Singapore | 165781 |
Malaysia | 35720 |
Sweden | 256 |
Denmark | 3410 |
UK | 391 |
France | 400 |
Germany | 529 |
Italy | 10889 |
Poland | 43038 |
Romania | 14500 |
Turkey | 782 |
Lithuania | 2433 |
Slovakia | 6054 |
USA | 28059 |
Total | 2407771 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan
While China maintained its number one ranking in terms of the value of imports, newcomer suppliers, namely Hong Kong and Singapore, provided a large proportion of January 2014 bedroom furniture imports.
Together, China Hong Kong and Singapore accounted for 89.5% of Japan's January 2014 imports of bedroom furniture. The top non Asia suppliers were Poland, the US and Romania.