Japan: November furniture imports

Source:Z&L Furniture Add Time:2014-01-27

In November 2013 Japan's imports of office furniture increased by 9.5% marking the third consecutive increase since September.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan

The top supplier remains China which provided 50.5% of all November imports, marginally down from the 52% supplied in October. The three main suppliers in November were China, Poland and Taiwan P.o.C which, together, accounted for 72% of all office furniture imports.

There were several winners in November including China, Poland (for which imports doubled) Taiwan P.o.C, and Italy. Suppliers in the US doubled exports in November as did shippers in Poland. The main losers in November were S. Korea, Malaysia, where exports halved, and Slovakia.

Kitchen furniture imports (HS 9403.40)

Asian suppliers notably Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Philippines continue to provide the bulk of the kitchen furniture imported by Japan according to figures from Japan's Ministry of Finance. November kitchen furniture imports, at yen 1,080,259 mil., were down by 12% on levels in October. Overall, suppliers in Asia provided 88.7% of Japan's kitchen furniture imports in November.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan

Vietnam maintained its position as the number one supplier of kitchen furniture by a significant margin supplying 39% of Japan's kitchen furniture imports but the November import figures show a slight decline in imports from Vietnam. The other main suppliers were Indonesian (17.8%), China (16.4%) and Philippines (15.7%).

Japan's imports of Kitchen furniture from Indonesia fell slightly but other SE Asian exports suffered significant declines with imports from Thailand and Malaysia down by half and imports from the Philippines down by around 25% November imports from Italy jumped three fold but still represent just a small part of Japan‟s overall imports of kitchen furniture. The only significant EU supplier of kitchen furniture in November was Germany where imports doubled.

Bedroom furniture (HS 9403.50)

Japan's imports of bedroom furniture in November rose to yen 1,672 mil. up by over 7% on levels a month earlier. in October. The November increase marks the third consecutive increase since mid 2013.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan