French Furniture Dynamics

¡¾2002.05.27¡¿

According to turnover data collected from companies by Sessi (Service des études et des statistiques industrielles du Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de l'Industrie), the performance of the French furniture industry was, for the entire year 2001, similar to the previous year but worsened in the fourth quarter. Exports, mainly directed to the European Union, fell but experts are expecting positive results following the "Salon du Meuble" of January.

In the seating segment, where imports account for 67% of national consunmption, foreign competition was strong and caused a negative trend. Office furniture registered a moderate decline (in the range of 5%), with results of January 2002 being even worse. Also, the bedroom furniture market, already stagnating from the previous years, registered a moderate fall again.

The segments which did better were those of kitchens and bathroom furniture. With the bathroom furniture sector growing even faster (two- digit increase) than that of the kitchen market.

Market and Company news

RTA (Ready to Assemble) furniture.

French RTA furniture production topped Euro 1285 million in 2001, of which around 13% (Euro 170 million) was exported. Imports amounted for Euro 385 million. Consumption of RTA furniture, which accounts for 22% of overall household furniture consumption, amounted Euro 1500 million.

The market share of the biggest RTA furniture manufacturers is in the range of 40%-45% and the main distribution channels are furniture chains, followed by buying groups and independent retailers.

The French homeware retailer, Conforama, has inaugurated the fourth outlet in Portugal (where it has had a presence since 1991), creating 60 new jobs. The company, which is owned by the group Pinaut, Printemps and Redoute, invested EUR 11mn in a total sales area of 4,000 square metres plus 6,500 square metres in warehousing. Conforama, which competes against Moviflor in the furniture segment and with Worten in the home appliances sector, and which turned over EUR 30mn in 2001, plans to open three to four new sites.