Market News from around Europe
‐2002.08.12／

Denmark to Sweden

Danish furniture producer Ilva A/S is to challenge the dominance of Swedish Ikea in Sweden. Ilva is to set up a store in Southern Sweden somewhere between Malmö and Helsingborg. The construction of the store is scheduled to start this autumn. Ilva is in the final stages of talks with a Swedish building contractor to set up a 15,000 sq m store at the cost of between DKr90mn (US$10.6mn) and DKr130mn.

Lutz on Expansion Course

With effect from 1 July 2002, the insolvent furniture chain Möbel Krügel of Stein near Nuremberg, Bavaria, will sell its main store in Stein to Austrian Lutz of Wels. The latter will also acquire the K-1 discount and the Hin-und-Mit furniture markets. Lutz already had taken over Krügel stores in Stuttgart and Kempten. The Austrian group, which is also running Möbel Neubert stores in Würzburg and Hirschaid, intends to increase its turnover generated on the German market from EUR 400mn (US$ 369.11mn) to more than EUR 500mn by 2010. Möbel Krügel's main furniture store in Stein is to be renamed XXX-Lutz, the discount market is to be operated under Möblix.

Ikea Store in every City

Swedish furniture chain Ikea, is planning the construction of a further 13 stores in Russia, one in every city with over a million inhabitants. The company currently has seven opened or planned in St Petersburg and Moscow. The cities in Ikea's sights include: Nizjnij Novgorod, Jekaterinburg, Samara, Novosibirsk, Krasnojarsk, Saratov, Omsk, Tjeljabinsk, Perm, Kazan, Ufa, Rostov-na-Donu and Volgograd. Ikea also plans to increase the proportion of furniture manufactured in Russia from a current 10% to a proposed 30%.

Fameg Cuts Labour Force

Fameg, the Polish producer of bent-wood furniture plans to make 385 workers redundant due to financial difficulties in the company. The president of the company said, that problems are linked mainly to the high rate of the Polish currency and lower orders from the main client, Ikea. NFI Progress, the owner of 33% stake in Fameg, looks for an investor for the furniture maker.

Timber floor market

The European Federation of the Parquet Industry (FEP) reports that timber floor sales have decreased by 1.2% to below 80 million square metres in 2001 and the production has fallen by 1.3% to 62.1 million square metres. Output from new members of the organisation - Hungary, Poland and Romania - brought total production to 75.6 million square metres and consumption in non-FEP member countries in the EU and European Free Trade Association pushed total sales to 95 million square metres. The European wide annual growth in consumption was 4.4%, and timber had a 5.1% share of the total floorcoverings market. The organisation expects the demand to remain at the same level in 2002.

80 Percent Exported

According to the Romanian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (APMR) the country's furniture exports in 2001 totalled US$ 500mil, accounting for 78% of total furniture production, while export growth of around 5% is expected for 2002. The domestic furniture market, meanwhile, was worth US$ 224mil in 2001, slightly down on the 2000 level of US$ 235mil, with imports accounting for about a third of the market. Imports are forecast to drop in the future as local manufacturers improve quality and variety, while overall production is expected to increase by around 75% by 2010, by which time exports will be worth US$ 800mil. There are currently 2,900 furniture factories in Romania but this is expected to decrease in the future as a result of consolidation in the industry.

Prices in the UK

Log Prices

UK Sawnwood Prices

Plywood and MDF in the UK

For more information on the trends in the UK market please see http://www.ttjonline.com/

Source:ITTO News