Chinese furniture imports from the EU declined by 13% to €260.5m in the first quarter. According to Eurostat, imports from Italy - the most important supplier country - fell by 14% to €93.8m compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year. The value of deliveries from Poland (-47% to €19.5m), Great Britain (-44% to €12.3m) and Lithuania (-37% to €6.9m) decreased even more, albeit from a level that was in some cases significantly lower.

Furniture imports from Germany declined by 5% to €63.7m. French imports meanwhile almost doubled to €25.8m. Denmark also increased its deliveries to China in terms of value, by 10% to €5.0m. When differentiating according to product groups, imports of both seating furniture and furniture other than seating furniture each decreased by 13%, to €111.4m and €141.0m respectively. Mattress imports declined by 16% to €8.1m compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year.