AUSTRIA –In the first half of 2018 Austria as a whole produced and sold furniture totaling 957.4 million euros.

By categories the largest increase in the first half of 2018 was registered in store furniture, with an increase of 19.8%, followed by bathrooms (+ 11.9%) and kitchen furniture (+ 5.2%). In terms of value, the production of bedroom, dining room and wooden living room furniture occupies the first place, ahead of kitchen and office furniture, despite a decrease of 0.9%.

“We were able to increase exports by an impressive 7.4 percent in the first six months of this year,” explains Dr. Georg Emprechtinger, president of the Austrian furniture industry. “This pleasant development is a measurable indication that ‘made in Austria’ is increasingly becoming an internationally trusted quality label and that exports are becoming an increasingly important pillar for the national industry.” This was also the case of exports to Germany, as the most important exporting country, it again increased by 6.3% to EUR 207.3 million. The second place went to Poland with 24.1 million euros (+ 2.1%), followed by Italy with a notable increase of 10.7% to 20.6 million euros.

Although exports increased in the first half of 2018, the balance of imports fell 2.3% to EUR 917.3 million. Germany delivered 4.1% less furniture to Austria than in the same period of the previous year. Trade with Poland remained at the level of the previous year and imports from Italy fell by 5.6%.