Japan: Latest trends in office, kitchen and bedroom furniture imports

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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
Imports 2014 January

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.

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