China Furniture Exhibition has learned that relying on the reconstructed FTCFE furniture export-specific statistics from the General Administration of Customs, the true dynamics of China's furniture foreign trade can be precisely captured. This statistical framework focuses on four mainstream categories of residential furniture, excluding special non-standard items such as aviation, vehicle, and medical furniture, and systematically reviews the export structural changes and overall trends of the furniture industry in the first five months of 2026.

Overall export growth has seen a modest weakening. In May alone, furniture exports reached RMB 40.99 billion, down 2.9% year-on-year. Cumulative exports from January to May totaled RMB 200.61 billion, down 1.6% year-on-year. Looking at overseas markets by destination, export markets are divided into three tiers. The first tier comprises the United States (RMB 45.55 billion), United Kingdom (RMB 11.54 billion), Japan (RMB 9.8 billion), Germany (RMB 9.26 billion), and Australia (RMB 8.28 billion). May saw a short-term rebound in exports to the United States, with monthly exports of RMB 9.64 billion, surging 32.1% year-on-year. However, cumulative exports to the United States from January to May still fell 1.6% year-on-year. The European market has warmed up overall, with exports to Spain, Poland, and Germany in the first five months rising 15.1%, 11.1%, and 8.2% respectively.

Other key markets showed significant divergence. Exports to Mexico and Saudi Arabia fell 18% and 24.6% year-on-year respectively, while India, Russia, and Italy achieved high growth, with increases of 42.7%, 43.9%, and 8.9% respectively. From a long-term perspective, China's dependence on furniture exports to the United States has continued to decline. In the first five months, the share of total exports accounted for by the United States was 22.7%, compared to 27.5% in 2022—a cumulative decline of nearly 5 percentage points over four years. The overall share of the top 30 countries has continued to contract, as furniture enterprises actively lay out markets in Belt and Road partner countries. Export growth in emerging markets in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia has comprehensively surpassed that of traditional European and American markets, with the effectiveness of diversified export layouts becoming prominent.

The import market has also cooled slightly in tandem. From January to May 2026, cumulative furniture imports totaled RMB 3.59 billion, down 3% year-on-year. The top three import source countries were Italy (RMB 1.14 billion), Germany (RMB 410 million), and the United States (RMB 230 million), with imported goods primarily consisting of wooden furniture and various seating products.

The article compares China-US bilateral furniture trade data. China's export statistics are based on shipping dates, while US import statistics are based on port clearance dates, creating a time lag of 25 to 45 days. Therefore, US data lagging by one month is used to match domestic data for the same month. In March 2026, China's furniture exports fell 33% year-on-year, ending a 12-month streak in which domestic furniture export growth outpaced US furniture import growth. This fluctuation was primarily driven by short-term factors such as Spring Festival production and sales rhythms and statistical period misalignment between the two countries. The 12-month streak of leading growth from April 2025 to March 2026 fully validates the effectiveness of the market diversification strategy. US monthly import data has continued to trend downward, with import values declining year-on-year for four consecutive months from January to April, within a range of 11% to 21.2%.

Overall, while the continued decline in dependence on the US market has brought short-term adjustment pains, it has also propelled the industry to complete a structural transformation of its market composition. The comprehensive warming of the European market and the short-term significant rebound in May exports to the United States demonstrate the stable supply chain responsiveness of the domestic furniture industry chain. The 12 consecutive months of export growth outperforming US imports also confirms that China's furniture industry possesses solid resilience during the foreign trade transformation phase.

Source: toutiao