Russian furniture manufacturers complain about lack of state support

In the first quarter of this year the Russian manufacturers of furniture sent overseas production by 5% more than in the same period last year. But the share of furniture from Russia in the international market is still minimal — 0,23%. Export growth prevents weak support from the state, say market participants. According to their forecasts, if government will not solve the problem, the country will need at least 15 years to enter the top ten largest suppliers of wooden furniture.

In the first quarter of 2019 Russian furniture manufacturers have exported furniture to $88,9 billion, which is 5% higher than a year earlier, to be provided by the research of the Association of enterprises of furniture and woodworking industry of Russia (LDPR). For comparison: according to Rosstat, in the first quarter of 2018, an increase of 20.2%. In General, the results of last year Russia sent abroad furniture products totaling $372,3 million in 2017 — to $of 294.1 million According to the Ministry, last year 61% of products were exported to CIS countries. The largest share of exports came to Kazakhstan (38%), Belarus (10%), Germany (8.4%) and USA (4.8 per cent).

Despite the fact that the country is one of the largest suppliers of timber, Russia’s share in the global furniture market is only 0.23 percent. According to the Word Furniture Confederation, in 2018, global exports amounted to $160 billion Leading position is China ($55 billion), Poland ($12 billion) and Germany ($11 billion). At the current pace to get in the top 10 exporters, Russia would need 15 years, according to a study of LDPR.

The President of the Association Alexander Shestakov is confident that export growth prevents weak state support. In addition, he continues, a tiny fraction of Russian furniture in the world market due to the lack of warehouses located in other jurisdictions, which increases the expected time of delivery at the customer. As an example, he cites Dubai, where is the warehouse area of 5 thousand square meters, financed by the Russian export centre for the needs of agricultural producers of Russia. By Tuesday night, the Ministry did not answer questions “b”.

The representative of a large company is one of manufacturers of furniture in Russia also reports on the need of state support. The Swedish retailer is sure that the authorities need to harmonize the standards and requirements of technical regulations between Russia and EU countries, provide producers with low interest rates on loans and Bank loans for production development. Among other remarks, he emphasized the need for support of FSC international the Forest stewardship Council, assistance in development of business furniture components, and support the creation of environmental materials and development of production of synthetic and blended fabrics. In 2018 the volume of purchases in Russia exceeded 22 billion rubles, about 72% of this production was sold on the domestic market, with the remainder located in other countries. Among the main directions of the company representative listed EU countries, USA and Asia. “The bulk of our exports go to the furniture from solid wood (4.7 billion rubles), soft furnishings (0.3 billion rubles), the rest is textiles, tableware and accessories”,— said the representative of the company.

“Now the efforts of the state aimed at increasing the export share of products of deep wood processing. But now comes the stage when the desired support is not export of raw wood in varying degrees of processing, and ready-made products”,— said Alexander Shestakov. He adds that the volume of deliveries of furniture abroad in the first quarter is always low — key export sales are made on the third and fourth quarters. He predicted that in 2019, the exports of furniture could rise by more than 25% and are approaching $500 million.

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