After the regressive development in sales revenue in autumn, the German furniture industry was unable to bring about a turnaround in December either. At -4.7% to 1.324bn €, the reduction recorded in the monthly statistics of the German Furniture Industry Federation (VDM) for December turned out to be even poorer than in the preceding months.
The industry’s sales revenue thus decreased in seven months of last year whereas the previous year’s figures were exceeded in five months. In absolute figures, May and November were the best individual months, followed by September, May, and October. The months of July, August, and December, however, turned out to be the poorest months.
In 2017 as a whole, the German furniture industry’s sales revenue fell by 0.6% against the year before to 17.855bn €. The growth of 0.4% achieved in export to 5.790bn € only partly compensated for the reduction of 1.1% in domestic sales revenue to 12.065bn €.