In May 2017, for the first time in several months the value of Japan’s furniture imports exhibit a level of consistency, says ITTO in its latest report.

Wooden bedroom furniture imports in May expanded 17% and imports of office and kitchen furniture rose slightly. While kitchen furniture imports have been rising steadily, imports of office and bedroom furniture have been more erratic.

Looking back several years the impact of the lunar holiday period in both China and Vietnam, both major furniture suppliers to Japan, is very apparent with shipments around this period dropping significantly.

Year on year May imports of wooden office furniture were 8% up and month on month imports rose 17%. China, Portugal and Italy dominated Japan’s wooden office furniture imports accounting for over 80% of May imports. In May this year imports from China fell slightly but still accounted for 67% of all wooden office furniture imports. Imports from Portugal and Italy are small compared to those from China (around 8% each).

(Source: ihb.de)