Furniture companies have high profile on import list

Furniture is a key component in a Top 100 list that, surprising as it may seem, was not compiled by Furniture/Today.

This “other” Top 100 is actually a ranking of the nation’s largest importers that was compiled by the Journal of Commerce, the respected trade journal for the logistics and transportation industry.

And it should not be a surprise to find furniture manufacturers and retailers sprinkled throughout the list.

Retail powerhouse Ikea, in fact, placed 12th by importing 100,300 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, in 2008. (A typical 40-foot container equals two TEUs.)

Right behind Ikea at No. 13 is manufacturer and retailer Ashley Furniture, which imported 96,700 TEUs last year.

Other key furniture players included No. 26 Pier 1 Imports with 43,300 TEUs; No. 41 Furniture Brands International with 32,300 TEUs; No. 43 Rooms To Go with 28,800 TEUs; No. 75 Natuzzi with 15,100 TEUs; No. 81 Coaster with 14,300 TEUs; and No. 85 Lifestyle Enterprise with 13,700 TEUs.

Several other retailers on the list count furniture as a key product line, but import lots of other goods as well. Those included No. 19 JCPenney, No. 29 Williams-Sonoma (parent company of Pottery Barn), No. 50 Macy’s and No. 91 Crate & Barrel.

Manufacturer Dorel Inds. also made the list at No. 23, but I suspect many of the company’s 48,200 TEUs were juvenile product and bicycles. Much of its furniture is produced in the U.S. and Canada.

To no one’s surprise, the Journal of Commerce said Wal-Mart was the largest importer in 2008 with 720,000 TEUs. Target was No. 2 with 445,800 TEUs, and Sears, which owns Kmart and Land’s End, was No. 4 with 229,400 TEUs.