After the positive start to the new year Japan's imports of office, kitchen and bedroom furniture are struggling to recover. The value of imports of all three categories of furniture in April 2015 was around 11% below that in April 2014 despite the burst in bedroom furniure imports in February this year.
April 2015 office furniture imports (HS 9403.30)
Imports April 2015 Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
S. Korea | - |
China | 86110 |
Taiwan P.o.C. | 4485 |
Vietnam | - |
Thailand | 1731 |
Malaysia | 4119 |
Indonesia | 5605 |
Lebanon | 241 |
Sweden | - |
Denmark | 1959 |
UK | - |
Netherlands | - |
France | 611 |
Germany | 218 |
Switzerland | 15834 |
Portugal | 41719 |
Italy | 21882 |
Poland | 21784 |
Lithuania | 3053 |
Slovakia | 4875 |
USA | 3062 |
Total | 227166 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan
Office furniture imports (HS 940330)
The top four suppliers of office furniture; China, Portugal, Poland and Italy maintained their dominance of the market in Japan accounting for over 75% of all office furniture imports in April, up 5% from March.
Office furniture imports continued to fall in April (down almost 17% from March) marking the fourth straight monthly decline. The big losers in April were South Korea, Taiwan P.o.C, France and Germany. Of note was the significant value of April office furniture supplied by manufacturers in Switzerland
Kitchen furniture imports (HS 940340)
April Kitchen furniture imports were slightly higher (3.5%) in April partially making up for the 16% decline recorded in March.
The top four suppliers, accounting for 93% of total kitchen furniture imports, were Vietnam (up 30% compared to March), Philippines, China (-30%) and Indonesia (23%).
With Vietnam alone accounting for around 44% of Japan's kitchen furniture imports it will come as no surprise that when imports from Thailand, Malaysia Philippines and Indonesia are included, SE Asian suppliers are capturing the lion's share of the market for imported Kitchen furniture.
April 2015 kitchen furniture imports
Imports Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
China | 159131 |
Taiwan P.O.C. | 1285 |
Vietnam | 459788 |
Thailand | 13833 |
Malaysia | 12265 |
Philippines | 217493 |
Indonesia | 141443 |
UK | 438 |
Germany | 15914 |
Italy | 6830 |
Poland | 6324 |
Romania | 2124 |
Canada | 3527 |
USA | 15062 |
Total | 1055457 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan
Bedroom furniture imports (HS 9403.50)
Imports of bedroom furniture remain dominated by two suppliers; China and Vietnam which together accounted for 86% of April imports by Japan. The latest data from the Ministry of Finance in Japan shows that bedroom furniture imports from China surged almost 45% in April 2015 but were still below levels recorded in April 2014.
The number three and number four suppliers of bedroom furniture in April 2015 were Thailand and Indonesia, together adding a further 6% of overall imports.
Of non-Asian suppliers Poland, Slovakia, Romania and the US emerged as serious suppliers in April with all three achieving better sales to Japan compared to those in March this year
April 2015 bedroom furniture imports
Imports 2015 April Unit 1,000 Yen |
|
S. Korea | 419 |
China | 1221160 |
Taiwan P.o.C. | 16770 |
Vietnam | 564573 |
Thailand | 74169 |
Malaysia | 39811 |
Philippines | 229 |
Indonesia | 44164 |
Denmark | 5501 |
UK | 250 |
Belgium | 227 |
Switzerland | 1612 |
Spain | 371 |
Italy | 7884 |
Poland | 39981 |
Austria | 339 |
Romania | 12550 |
Latvia | 215 |
Lithuania | 6447 |
Croatia | 204 |
Slovakia | 15580 |
USA | 21479 |
Total | 2073935 |
Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan