The European Office furniture industry in the World scenario

1. www.worldfurnitureonline.com 21WF • March 2017
by Mauro Spinelli
CSIL Industry Studies
THE EUROPEAN OFFICE
FURNITURE INDUSTRY
IN THE WORLD SCENARIO
he office furniture industry is a
mature sector. World produc-
tion value of office furniture
reached about Eur 44 billion in
2016 (preliminary figures), repre-
senting around 12% of total world
furniture production.
Asia and Pacific is the main manu-
facturing area with a 47% share of
world office furniture production, fol-
lowed by North America, which
accounts for 28%. Europe ranks
third with an incidence of 19% on
worldwide production. The other
geographical areas hold marginal
shares.
Today, world office furniture produc-
tion value is 16% higher than ten
years ago. Obviously, the develop-
ment is the result of different per-
formances across regions. Asia and
Pacific outperformed the other
areas and almost doubled the out-
put. Middle East and Africa follow
(although with minimal production
T
HIGHLIGHTSCSIL MARKET RESEARCH
STUDIES
values) and they remained almost
stable, while North America and
Europe registered negative per-
formances. At a global level, it is evi-
dent the predominant role of China,
which in 2010 overtook the United
States as world’s leading office fur-
niture manufacturer. Currently,
Chinese production exceeds Eur
13.5 billion, representing 31% of the
world office furniture output.
A CLOSER LOOK AT EUROPE
According to preliminary figures,
office furniture production in Europe
continued its slow recovery,
increasing by about +2% in 2016 to
a total value of Eur 8.4 billion.
Germany and Sweden pushed the
growth performing over the
European average, while the United
Kingdom dropped significantly.
Production trend continued to be
weak in Southern Europe with neg-
ative performance for Italy and
Portugal and slow improvements for
Spain and Greece.
The ‘new’ European member coun-
tries grew consistently over the
European average and registered
+6.5% compared to the previous
year. Poland and the Czech
Republic are the largest manufac-
turing countries and they continued
to expand also in 2016.
The official trade figures released by
Eurostat for the period January-
October 2016 show a contained
growth in exports as office furniture
increased by 2% while office seating
progressed by just 1% on the previ-
ous year. To be noticed the strong
performance of Poland, the third
largest exporter in Europe (after
Germany and Italy) and the sixth
exporter at a world level.
The United Kingdom, second
largest importer in the region after
France, registered weak trend in the
first ten months of 2016, after two
years of double-digit growth.
EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING
PULSE
The European office furniture sector
employs a total workforce of about
73,000. Around 55,000 are
employed in Western European
countries while the remaining
(18,000) in Central-Eastern Europe.
A trend reversal has been regis-
tered in 2015 after years of slow-
down. In parallel with the rebound in
employment, the percentage of total
turnover destined for investments
turned to growth in 2015. On aver-
age, European office furniture man-
ufacturers dedicated 5% of turnover
to investment activities. About 1%
invested in promotion, roughly 2% in
OFFICE FURNITURE PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE, 2016.
BILLION USD AND PERCENTAGES
Source: CSIL processing
(*) Total values for Europe 28 countries + Norway and Switzerland

2. www.worldfurnitureonline.com
HIGHLIGHTS
STUDIES
CSIL MARKET RESEARCH
22 March 2017 • WF
machinery and design/product
development, respectively.
OFFICE FURNITURE SECTOR.
A SELECTION OF LARGEST
INVESTMENTS OVER THE LAST
TWO YEARS:
- In 2015/2016 the Norwegian chair
manufacturer Scandinavian Business
Seating invested Eur 1 million in the
improvement of production in
Norway. The investment set a new
powder coating line that delivers
improved environmental perform-
ance, is more flexible and offers
40% more capacity.
- Ahrend invested Eur 2.6 million in
2016 to set up a new assembly line
for seating products reflecting in 35
new jobs creation In Sint-
Oedenrode (Netherlands). This
location already hosts a new show-
room and an InnovationLab.
- Through an investment of over Eur
6 million, Vepa Project Furniture
Hoogeveen achieved a significant
technological innovation. In March
2016 the company announced the
need to invest in additional produc-
tion capacity to face increasing
domestic demand and to satisfy
requests from Belgium, Germany
and the United Kingdom.
- In April 2015 the German company
Reiss announced Eur 800,000
investment in production activities
for a new metalworking line.
- In April 2015 Haworth started the
construction of a 2,800 sqm. manu-
facturing facility in Bad Munder fol-
lowing an investment of Eur 6.1 mil-
lion. The entire seating furniture pro-
duction of Haworth Germany
(including raw material delivery,
storage, coating, assembly and
shipping) has been concentrated
there.
- Steelcase invested about Eur 20
million in a new manufacturing plant
in the Czech Republic, opened in
January 2015. In the same year the
company decided to invest Eur 3
million in the Spanish plant (follow-
ing the sale of its industrial site in
Wisches, France).
- During the second half of 2016,
Tvilum started production in its new
plant in Poland.
The twenty-ninth edition of the
CSIL report ‘The European
Market for Office Furniture’ -
available from June 2017 - is
based on direct interviews with
sector firms, which are repre-
sentative of 75% of total
European production. The
report provides:
- detailed figures and competi-
tive analysis of 30 European
countries including 28 States of
the European Union, plus
Norway and Switzerland.
- consumption forecasts of office
furniture for 2017 and 2018.
More info on the report and
online purchases at:
www.worldfurnitureonline.com
EUROPE. PRODUCTION OF OFFICE FURNITURE, 2006-2016. % CHANGE
EUROPE. OFFICE FURNITURE. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN A SELECTION OF LEADING
MARKETS, JANUARY-OCTOBER 2016/2015. PERCENTAGE CHANGE
Source: CSIL processing (*) 2016 preliminary
Source: CSIL processing of official data