GERMANY - It was a challenging year for the German kitchen industry, yet Volker Irle CEO of the German Kitchen Manufacturers Association (AMK) drew a positive conclusion for the year 2017 at the 9th AMK business press conference in Cologne.

For the third time in a row, the turnover of € 11 billion was reached.

In 2017, the German kitchen industry achieved a total turnover of €11.57 billion (2016: €11.58 billion). This results in a minimal decline of 0.1% compared to the previous year. Domestic sales were down 2%. Nevertheless, the domestic business continues to be marked by a positive propensity to consume at a very high level.

Exports continued to increase with an increase of 2.58% and a total turnover of €5.03 billion. For the kitchen furniture industry, the most important foreign market is and remains France. With over €460 million in sales, the German kitchen furniture industry was once again able to increase its already high sales by 7.5%. Sales in the second most important market, the Netherlands, once again increased by more than 11% to almost €280 million.