GERMANY - The German furniture industry generated sales of around 8.4 billion euros from January to June 2021, an increase of 4.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

Against the backdrop of the long phase of trade closures, domestic sales developed only slightly positively foreign sales in the German furniture industry grew strongly.

Among other things, the export business benefited from the downturn in infections in key European export markets and the earlier lifting of the lock-down measures compared with Germany.

"When assessing these results, however, reference must be made to the extremely weak figures for the previous year," said Jan Kurth, Managing Director of the German Furniture Industry Associations (VDM/VHK), at the associations' annual business press conference on August 23, 2021.

Due to the first wave of the pandemic, sales of the German furniture manufacturers had slumped by 10.2 percent in the first half of 2020. "If we compare the development of the first half of 2021 with the pre-crisis level of 2019, we have to state a decline in sales of around 6 percent," Jan Kurth said.

German furniture exports increased by 22.6 percent year-on-year to €4.17 billion in the first half of 2021. The export value is generally higher than the industry's foreign sales, because unlike foreign sales, the export value also includes goods manufactured at foreign production sites.

"The international furniture trade fairs are of an outstanding importance for the successful export business of the domestic furniture manufacturers," Kurth said. After a pandemic-related interruption in the previous year, international trade fair activities have resumed during the course of 2021. The trade show schedule in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East has now largely returned to normal, and trade shows are also being held again in Germany and other EU countries once again. Domestically, the VDM is working intensively with the Koelnmesse on the next successful edition of the imm cologne in January 2022. Abroad, the VDM is planning a joint participation in a total of eight foreign trade fairs in the USA, China, Russia, United Arab Emirates and Sweden in 2022.