Ukrainian furniture makers exported $909 million worth of products in 2024, up 15.5% year-on-year, Oksana Donska, a board member of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAFM) and an export expert, toldInterfax-Ukraine.
“Together, the woodworking industry and the furniture industry are among the top 10 export commodity groups with a share of 5.7% in Ukraine’s merchandise exports. I am confident that we will maintain the dynamics of growth in furniture exports and there is a chance that this year we will cross the $1 billion mark,” Donska said.
The expert explained such a positive outlook by the trends of the global furniture market, which has returned to growth, for example, in European countries from 8 to 10% per year.
“Another plus is that IKEA is returning to us to purchase a fairly wide assortment matrix of furniture. At the same time, the number of exporters to large companies is growing. This also applies to small and medium-sized businesses that are forced to export because the domestic market has shrunk significantly,” she says.
According to her, before the war, experts estimated the capacity of the domestic market at $1-1.2 billion, but now it has halved to about $500-600 million.
At the same time, Ukrainian furniture makers achieved export growth in 2024 amid a shortage of personnel (by 30-40%, according to manufacturers). The furniture makers were able to optimize their costs and maintain competitive prices thanks to grant support from both the government and international donors, which helped them to change equipment in their factories and increase their productivity. According to Donska’s estimates, about 50 of the most active manufacturers (out of about 11,000 companies) have attracted state aid alone, and a significant number of them have used it to scale up and move from small to medium-sized businesses. As for microbusinesses, they actively chose a narrow specialization and sought partnerships.
Industry associations, both national and local, helped solve the issue of human resources and export promotion. According to Donska, thanks to UAFM training programs, more than 800 people have been involved in the industry since December last year, and the furniture school has graduated 295 equipment operators and furniture designers. The export promotion project also showed good results. “Participating in an international exhibition with a separate stand is expensive and not affordable for everyone. But joining the national exposition for a few square meters is already possible. Thanks to this program, more than 200 companies have shown their products at international exhibitions in Poland, Germany, the UK, Italy and the UAE,” Donska said. Individual furniture clusters (Lviv and Rivne) also addressed the issue of training and staffing.
