OMSIAD Office Furniture Industry And Businessmen Association President Ercan Ata answered ORSIAD Journal’s questions sincerely.
What is the current situation of Turkish furniture sector?
With its existing production potential, capacity, number of place of business and employment oppurtunities, Turkish furniture industry is a very important sector for our country. Furniture manufacturing sector employs 158,213 people. There are 32,106 businesses operating in this industry. There are 32,382 retail firms in this sector and it is thought that 100,000 employees are working in this sector. It’s reported that total number of companies in the furniture industry is 61,728, and the number of employees is 258,213 people. For the past 18 years, number of establishments in the industry had an increase of approximately 19 % and also the employment had an increase of 17 %.
Based on the capacity reports of Turkey Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), the number of the firms that employ 250 or more workers is 40 while the ones with 100 or more workers are 155. Turkish office furniture industry accounts for about 30 percent of the overall furniture industry of $ 9 billion. The furniture industry, which is one of the sectors with the highest employment capacity in Turkey, scattered all through the country’s cities and districts. After the 1980s, with the economic and social developments in Turkey, the demand for the functional and modern furniture with quality has increased especially in the large metropolitan areas and these developments have given impetus to the sector as well as the national economy. Office furniture production, that our association represents, has started at the end of the 19th century in Istanbul with the production of desks with drawers at some furniture workshops, and until today, the production industry has experienced significant developments because of the increasing supply and demand, and eventually office furniture production has become a sector.
Could you please evaluate the rates of import and export?
According to the TSI and Trademap data numbers, $ 1.9 billion of furniture exports happened in 2012, as well as according to the TSI 821 million dollars of funiture and according to Trademap data 817 million dollars of furniture were imported. Considering the growth in 2010 and 2011, furniture production is estimated around 11.6 billion lira in 2011. Considering the exports, production and import figures in the countr, about 10.3 billion lira of furniture consumption has been mentioned. Although Turkish furniture industry’s share is more than 1 percent of the world furniture manufacturing with its total production capacity, this share is still not at the desired level. According to the 2012 datas, the sector has exported to 214 countries with a total value about 1.9 billion dollars, and imported from 114 countries with an amount of 817 million dollars. In the process of rapid change and transformation, the sector has a goal of reaching $ 25 billion of production and and $ 10 billion of exports in 2023 and become one of the world’s top 10 as well as the first five largest furniture manufacturers in Europe.
When assessed according to product groups, Turkey furniture industry has a tendency to a significant increase in between years. Comparing the data of 9 months of 2013 with the 9 months of 2012, this significant increase has continued. Overall in 2012, total exports of furniture was $ 1.9 billion which included the product group numbered 9403 performing the highest volume of $ 1.1 billion, and the product group numbered 9402 with the lowest volume of exports. Even though Turkey’s exports by product group show a significant increase, the volume still remains low comparing to the rates of world furniture exports in the competing countries. It is estimated that the increase of capacity will also increase the volume of exports. In 2012, Turkish furniture sector’s $ 1.9 billion of exports included 159,192,823 dollars that belong to the office furniture industry. These figures in the first 9 months of 2013 increased by 23% compared to the first nine months of the year before and reached up to 155 million dollars.
According to the Office Furniture Industry’s export and import figures by year;
In 2010, imports were 37 million dollars and exports were $ 140 million dollars,
In 2011, imports were $ 44 million dollars and exports were $ 139 million dollars,
In 2012, imports were $ 38 million dollars and exports were $ 159 million dollars,
In the first 9 months of 2013, $ 44 million of imports and $ 155 million of exports have been realized.
Looking at the figures, we can say that despite the economic crisis in Europe and worldwide, the manufacturing, import and export volume of the Office Furniture Sector is increasing and the sector continues to trade with success in the international competition.
What are your expectations from the year 2014?
According to the TSI’s October data, the calendar adjusted index for manufacturing industry sub-sector compared to the same month last year, the fastest growth of 17.1 per cent was in the furniture industry. Accordingly, the furniture industry’s growth in production and export can be considered as evidence for the growth expectations in 2014 and also we can say that we will continue our work to reach better figures. With the Ministry of Economy’s goal of “$ 500 billion of exports in 2023”, Turkish furniture industry raises the bar even further and in the medium term aims to reach $ 5 billion of exports. In order to reach this goal, we as the producers, should capture a certain standard in terms of production capacity, price, warranty, delivery time and so on.
