In January-November 2023, Ukraine exported $730 million worth of furniture, which is 3.2% less than in 2022, Oksana Donska, a board member of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAFM) and coordinator of furniture cluster development, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The main reason for the drop is the blocking of the Polish-Ukrainian border. Trucks with furniture stood in line at the border for weeks in November 2023, and a small share was delivered by vehicles with a carrying capacity of up to three tons. It is expected that the pent-up demand of November and the lifting of the border blockade with Poland will allow us to ship orders and reach the export level of $810 million in 2023 and significantly increase exports next year,” Donska said.
In particular, JYSK buys Ukrainian products for sale in all its international networks. “If we compare the volume of JYSK’s purchases in Ukraine in 2023 with 2021, the company has increased the volume of purchases in physical units, and in monetary terms by almost 20% in euros,” said Iryna Romanchuk, purchasing manager at USK Ukraine LLC.
According to her, JYSK is ready to further increase the volume of purchases if Ukrainian producers are ready to switch to European standards and implement environmental and social initiatives at their production facilities.
Overall, the share of furniture exports in total exports of goods from Ukraine amounted to 2.2% in 11 months of 2023.
From 2009-2021, exports of Ukrainian furniture (product group 94) grew annually by an average of 13.5% from $0.2 billion to a record high of $1.1 billion in 2021. In 2022, Ukrainian furniture producers managed to keep exports at $0.8 billion, of which 91.1% were to the EU.
Donska noted that in 2023, the structure of exports by partner countries changed. Thus, compared to the same period in 2022, the share of exports to Poland decreased from 35.1% ($264.6 million) to 29.5% ($215.2 million). At the same time, the volume of exports to Germany increased significantly by 17%, from $129.3 million to $151.3 million, with the corresponding changes in the share from 17.2% to 20.7%.
The Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAFM) unites more than 70% of the furniture industry.
