Furniture production in the Czech Republic rose by five percent last year

Prague - The production of residential and office furniture in the Czech Republic increased by nearly five percent last year to 58.2 billion crowns, according to estimates from the Association of Czech Furniture Manufacturers (AČN). This was stated to journalists today by the association's secretary, Tomáš Lukeš. According to the association's estimate, three-quarters of the production, which is about 44.7 billion, was exported abroad. The consumption of furniture in the Czech Republic, including imported furniture, also rose by 11.6 percent to 38.4 billion crowns last year, according to the association's estimate.
The production of furniture in the Czech Republic thus increased compared to the years 2007 and 2006, in contrast to the years 2006 and 2005 when production decreased from 56.7 billion to 55.6 billion crowns.
“It is certainly due to increasing productivity, a relatively good technological level of our companies, very good quality of furniture produced by Czech furniture makers, and demand for Czech furniture abroad,” Lukeš told ČTK regarding the reasons for last year's increase. “Because we work with numbers, and this is a financial figure, the exchange rate of the Czech crown also has an impact,” he added.
Of the total production, furniture worth 44.7 billion crowns was exported abroad, which is about 300 million more than the year before and roughly 600 million more than in 2005. The value of imported furniture to the Czech Republic is also rising; last year, it stood at 24.8 billion crowns, the year before it was 23.2 billion, and in 2006 it was 20.4 billion crowns.
Data on imports and exports indicate that furniture consumption in the Czech Republic rose last year to 38.4 billion crowns, representing a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent. In 2005, it was 33 billion crowns, and the year before that, 30.6 billion crowns.
“The rising trend (in consumption) is also related to the construction boom that we are currently observing in the Czech Republic. The construction boom concerns not only residential construction but also the furnishing of offices, various facilities, and so on,” Lukeš stated.
The number of employees in the furniture industry decreased last year, despite the rising production, to 39,200, which is about 1.4 percent less.
According to December last year's data from the publication Panorama of the Manufacturing Industry prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the spending of Czechs on furniture rose by about 1.5 billion to a record 25.6 billion crowns last year. Experts expect that domestic furniture consumption will continue to increase in the coming years due to rising residential construction and the purchasing power of Czechs.

A comparison of furniture production in the Czech Republic, imports, exports, and furniture consumption from 2003 to 2007 according to the Association of Czech Furniture Manufacturers in billions of crowns:

::	production	import	export	consumption
2003	48.1	14.5	36.0	26.6
2004	52.4	18.4	40.2	30.6
2005	56.7	20.4	44.1	33.0
2006	55.6	23.2	44.4	34.4
2007	58.2	24.8	44.7	38.4