Shipment figures slashed
Numbers reflect downsizing due to imports
By Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, April 6, 2008
High Point — U.S. furniture production is far lower than previously estimated, according to new figures from the Department of Commerce.
In 2006, U.S. factories produced $21.2 billion worth of furniture or 19.2% less than the $27.7 billion previously estimated.
The American Home Furnishings Alliance, which bases its shipments estimates on the DOC data, also released the first numbers for 2007. AHFA said U.S. wood furniture shipments declined 7.9% from 2006 to $7.9 billion and upholstered shipments declined 1.8% to $9.7 billion.
New census data enabled the Department of Commerce to revise the figures for years 2002 to 2006, according to industry analyst Jerry Epperson of Mann, Armistead & Epperson in Richmond, Va. Previous numbers had been benchmarked to a 2002 census.
"Clearly, these numbers are dramatically different, but they better reflect the changes the residential furniture industry has faced this decade, especially the severe downsizing of many furniture manufacturers, the closing of hundreds of furniture factories and the growing movement to sell imported furniture," Epperson said.
The biggest revision was in wood furniture. The Department of Commerce now estimates U.S. factories turned out $8.6 billion worth of wood furniture in 2006, or 36.5% less than the $13.5 billion previously estimated.
Upholstery production also was sharply lower at $9.9 billion in 2006, or 19.2% less than the previous figure of $12.3 billion.
Because of some definition changes, however, "metal and other" furniture production was calculated to be higher, at $2.7 billion versus the $2 billion previously estimated.
With the new domestic numbers, imports account for a larger share of U.S. furniture consumption than previously estimated. Using figures from the International Trade Administration, wood furniture imports amounted to $10.8 billion in 2006 to account for 63% of all wood furniture sold in the United States that year. Previously, according to Epperson and the AHFA, the import share was pegged at 50.9%.
In upholstery, imports account for 28.5% of U.S. consumption under the revised figures, up from 24.25% in the previous estimate.
In "metal and other," the new estimate says imports make up 66.8% of what's on the market, compared with 75% as previously reckoned.
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