Furniture Exports on Decline

Iran exported about $6 million worth of furniture during the five months ending Aug. 22.

A closer look at the figures for the corresponding periods in 2016, 2015 and 2014, show Iran’s exports stood at $8 million, $16 million and $20 million respectively, the Persian weekly Tejarat-e Farda  reported, citing data from Iran Customs Administration.

Mozaffar Alikhani, technical deputy of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said the furniture industry is currently in a slump.

According to Alikhani, the industry is operating at only 50% of its production capacity.

Iran’s furniture market is worth over 300 trillion rials ($7.4 billion). Over 8% of all employment throughout the country are one way or another linked to this industry. Some 30,000 furniture production and distribution units are active in Iran.

“High inflation rate, interest rates and production costs have led to high final prices. On the other hand, the decline in people’s purchasing power results in lower demand for domestic products,” he said.

Iran currently has a $50-million share (0.03%) in the $147-billion global furniture market.

Furniture industry is one of the most widespread industries. Global furniture production was estimated to be worth $440 billion in 2016.