Oh no-no-no! Can this be the New Year?
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, January 1, 2006
We didn't have to wait till the ball dropped in Times Square to get a hint of what the New Year might bring. All you had to do was listen to post-Christmas retail commercials and it was clear as a bell. Bright and early on Dec. 26, Taft Furniture, an independent in the Albany, N.Y., market, trumpeted its triple-no promotion ... until 2011. Yes, that's 60 months, perhaps a record.
And if what we do to ourselves isn't enough, then some of the things that will affect business in general are sure to be felt in furnitureland. Two little-publicized government actions will add to the complexities the industry faces in global sourcing. One is the new federal regulation on MID, government-speak for manufacturer's identification.
Until now, agents, secondary suppliers and the like could be declared as the MID of record on imports from China, especially anything involving textiles. No more.
Late last year, the rules were changed to require the name of the manufacturer on customs declarations, not any "affiliates." This promised to provide an information bonanza that could help pinpoint some of the challenges stemming from burgeoning Chinese manufacturing.
Mais non! Those who thought they would now know who actually made a product didn't count on the firewall that can be raised to eliminate public knowledge. That information can be restricted to the factory and U.S. Customs.
And now comes a new challenge, although one that dates back decades to when woven wood blinds were first brought in from Asia. Pests are coming into this country via wood furniture and parts. These pests are viewed negatively — as they should be — and regulations are just beginning to try to control them.
Meanwhile, we still haven't seen the full impact of raw material availability/pricing, consolidation at supplier and retailer levels, and a shifting of power from one to another. Stay tuned; 2006 is certain to be an interesting year.
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