Canadian industry will look entirely different in five years
Canada's Top 10 Furniture Resources
Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, June 16, 2005
OTTAWA -- The Canadian furniture industry is facing its second major structural change in the past 20 years.
The first round of change was caused by free trade. In the early years of the 1989 free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, the Canadian furniture industry was decimated as antiquated factories and old-fashioned attitudes towards product and market development forced the unready and the unwilling out of business.
Those that remained retooled for the new reality without a tariff wall. They worked hard to create products and programs aimed at serving the needs of retailers on both sides of the border. The success of this strategy was amplified by a strong U.S. dollar, which gave Canadian manufacturers a competitive boost in their efforts to develop business in the world’s largest economy.
Even when Asia-made product began entering the U.S. market in a significant way five years ago, Canadian manufacturers were holding their own.
But over the past 18 months so, everything has been turned upside down. The value of the U.S. dollar has plummeted, pricing Canadian goods out of the market, particularly when shopped against Asia-made products.
*For the complete research report (Canada's Top 10 Furniture Resources) see the June 13 print issue of Furniture|Today, or click here to order an electronic copy .
