The American Wood Office Furniture Market Reached $3.9B, Remaining Dependent on Imports

IndexBox has just published a new report: 'U.S. Wood Office Furniture Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025'. Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

The U.S. wood office furniture market rose to $3.9B in 2019, increasing by 2.4% against the previous year. This figure reflects the total revenues of producers and importers (excluding logistics costs, retail marketing costs, and retailers' margins, which will be included in the final consumer price). The market value increased at an average annual rate of +2.8% from 2013 to 2019; the trend pattern remained consistent, with only minor fluctuations being observed in certain years. 

Production in the U.S.

In value terms, wood office furniture production totaled $2.8B in 2019. The total output value increased at an average annual rate of +1.3% from 2013 to 2019. The pace of growth appeared the most rapid in 2015 with an increase of 7.6% y-o-y. As a result, production reached a peak level of $2.8B; afterward, it flattened through to 2019.

Imports into the U.S.

In 2019, the amount of wood office furniture imported into the U.S. stood at 15M units, picking up by 6.3% on the previous year's figure. Over the period under review, total imports indicated a strong expansion from 2013 to 2019: its volume increased at an average annual rate of +5.5% over the last six-year period. 

In value terms, wood office furniture imports declined to $960M (IndexBox estimates) in 2019. The total import value increased at an average annual rate of +1.8% from 2013 to 2019; however, the trend pattern indicated some noticeable fluctuations being recorded in certain years. 

Imports by Country

Canada (7.5M units), China (4.8M units) and Taiwan (Chinese) (603K units) were the main suppliers of wood office furniture imports to the U.S., together comprising 90% of total imports.

From 2013 to 2018, the biggest increases were in Taiwan (Chinese), while purchases for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

In value terms, Canada ($390M), China ($347M) and Mexico ($45M) appeared to be the largest wood office furniture suppliers to the U.S., with a combined 74% share of total imports. Taiwan (Chinese), Viet Nam, Malaysia, Germany, Lithuania, Italy and Portugal lagged somewhat behind, together comprising a further 19%.

Import Prices by Country

In 2018, the average wood office furniture import price amounted to $73 per unit, surging by 8.4% against the previous year. Overall, the import price, however, saw a mild setback. The import price peaked at $84 per unit in 2014; however, from 2015 to 2018, import prices remained at a lower figure.

Average prices varied somewhat amongst the major supplying countries. In 2018, the highest prices were recorded for prices from Mexico ($78 per unit) and China ($72 per unit), while the price for Canada ($52 per unit) and Viet Nam ($56 per unit) were amongst the lowest.

From 2013 to 2018, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Malaysia, while the prices for the other major suppliers experienced a decline.

Companies Mentioned in the Report

Herman Miller, Knoll, The Hon Company, Ofs Brands Holdings, The Gunlocke Company L L C, Mayline Company, Anthro Corporation, High Point Furniture Industries, Geiger International, Case Systems, Jsj Furniture Corporation, Watson Furniture Group, Davis Furniture Industries, Hickory Business Furniture, Darran Furniture Industries, Indiana Furniture Industries, Marco Display Specialists, GP, R. T. London Company, Tuohy Furniture Corporation, Jasper Seating Company, Bush Industries of Pennsylvania, Vaswani, Frank Chervan, A. C. Furniture Company, Paoli LLC, Innovant, Arcadia Chair Company, Kimball Furniture Group, Anderson Desk, H S Morgan Limited Partnership, Geiger Group

Source: IndexBox Platform