SPAIN – The National Association of Industrialists and Exporters de Muebles de España (ANIEME) has presented the report on the results of foreign trade in the Spanish furniture sector for the period from January to April 2020.

During the first four months of this year, there is a sharp decline in both exports and imports of furniture in Spain, a consequence of the COVID -19 crisis since March and especially during the month of April, which has been devastating to business operations.

Spanish furniture exports have decreased 21.4% compared to the same period of the previous year, with 579 million euros. For their part, imports decreased by 17.3%.

Almost all of the Autonomous Communities have shown drastic decreases in their sales abroad in this four-month period, although the most exporting Autonomous Communities such as the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Murcia and Andalusia are the ones suffering the greatest declines.

The top ten destinations of the Spanish furniture export have experienced sharp declines in their imports, caused by the closure of borders and economic hibernation resulting from the COVID -19 pandemic in the months of March and April 2020, and which are reflected in the overall figures of the first quarter.

France maintains its leadership as the first destination for Spanish furniture, concentrating 30.1% of the total exported and showing a decrease of 18.6% in this period.

France, Portugal and Germany total 50.4% of the Spanish export of furniture, more than half of the total exported, and are at the forefront of the main destinations of Spanish furniture during the first quarter of this year.

The United States remains 4th in the destination rankings, with a decrease of 7%, the lowest decrease among the top ten destinations of the Spanish furniture export, which denotes its purchasing capacity despite the global crisis we are going through.

In the first four months of 2020 Spain imported furniture worth 878 million euros, representing a decrease of 17.3% compared to the first four months of 2019. With this result, the sector’s trade balance is at a deficit of 299 million euros, with the coverage rate at 65.9%.