Shanghai show draws crowds
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, October 6, 2008
SHANGHAI, China — A growing domestic market for furniture and strong attendance from the Middle East and Europe helped fuel attendance at the 14th China International Furniture Expo in Shanghai last month.
The annual show occupied about 3.4 million square feet at the Shanghai New International Expo Center Sept. 10-13. Billed as “Asia's Global Furniture Event,” it featured 1,931 exhibitors, including 155 foreign exhibitors from 22 countries.
Still, a slowing global economy, and challenges for overseas visitors obtaining visas before and after the Beijing Olympics, affected attendance from countries including the United States and Canada. International visitors totaled 13,600, down from 15,783 in 2007.
North America accounted for 11% of international visitors this year, down from about 12.4% in 2007, according to show officials.
The show reported that for the first time, the event attracted large delegations from Brazil and Mexico.
With much of the attendance coming from China and elsewhere in Asia, much of the furniture was scaled and designed for those markets. Still, there was plenty for international buyers, with a product mix that ranged from contemporary leather upholstery to contemporary, transitional and traditional wood products.
Shanghai Comfland had a mix of contemporary and transitional leather sofas styled largely for North American markets. Some of the product also was aimed at buyers in China, which represents about 10% of its sales — and is growing. The company expects the domestic market will account fro 50% of its volume in five years.
“This year there seems to be a lot of domestic buyers,” said Terry Zheng, a company director/manager, who said the company has showed in Shanghai for three years. “It is tough to export overseas. A lot of the wholesalers are selling to the domestic market.”
Still, he said, the U.S. remains an important market and will continue to be for the next five to 10 years.
Malaysia-based Rubelli, which produces leather and fabric sofas in China, has attended the show for four years and usually gets buyers from the U.S., Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South America. But company CEO Stephen Wong saw fewer U.S. buyers this time around.
“Some will still come — the show must go on,” he said. “They still must find the deal of the century.”
Leather upholstery producer Premier Furniture had planned to open a plant in Vietnam this month but has shelved the project until September or October 2009, partly because of slow sales to U.S. customers — some of whom have reduced orders between 20% and 50% year to date, officials said.
“We asked many of our U.S. customers, and they say that next June or July they may be able to order more,” said Ray Li, purchasing manager. He noted that the U.S. now represents just 20% of sales volume compared with 70% for the United Kingdom. But he added that Premier is hoping to increase its U.S. business from about 70 containers a month to more than 500.
For Chinese upholstery producer Maxi Sofa, the United States represents about 10% of export sales. But sales to the U.S. are down 15% year to date, and the company is courting buyers in the Middle East and other Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea.
China also is a strong emerging market. The government's proposed early 2009 elimination of the value added tax rebate on exported goods will make the market even more important, said Chen Qian, sales manager.
“That is why there will be more competition among Chinese manufacturers for the domestic market,” he said.
Case goods vendors showed a mix of traditional and transitional bedroom and dining room products.
Westbrook Ltd. showed a line of French-inspired dining room, accent furniture and upholstery. Dining tables and other wood products were largely made with sustainable woods such as reclaimed elm, giving the pieces a rustic, almost transitional flair, as evidenced by the heavy grain patterns of table tops.
Home of Homes, a Singapore-based case goods producer with production in the Shanghai area, showed a mix of bedroom, dining room and occasional products, largely with French and other European influences.
By the third day of the show, company Director Lim Chiao noticed a drop in showroom attendance from North America. He attributed that decline to the visa problems and the economy. But he said attendance from Europe was strong, a factor he attributed to his company's designs.
Zoe Zeiser, a vice president of merchandising and product development from casual dining importer Accentage Furniture, said this was the first time in about four years he had attended the show. He was impressed by the scope and variety of vendors showing this time, including the number of international exhibitors.
Zeiser said he found two new materials suppliers and got a good sense for whether it would be good for his own company to exhibit at the show.
“From what we know, with all the condos going up (in China), the appetite for western style furniture is pretty good now,” he said, noting that his company has warehousing in China to help supply the domestic market. “The bedrooms and the kitchens are getting bigger. The appetite is more than for just Chinese styles, and if you have the inventory, why not use it?”
