About furniture industry

The German furniture industry has an annual turnover of around 20 billion euros. Around 100,000 employees work in the approximately 1,000 companies with 20 or more employees. Most of the industry's sales are generated by the larger manufacturers with 50 or more employees: In 2020, the 468 companies of this size generated sales of 17.2 billion euros. Compared to the previous year, this corresponded to a decline of 3.7 percent, which can be attributed to the Corona crisis and the associated retail lockdowns.

Kitchen furniture manufacturers represent the largest sector, followed by office and store furniture, dining, living and bedroom furniture, upholstered furniture and mattresses.

The industry's production sites are mainly located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Other important sites are located in Lower Saxony, Hesse and Saxony. Just under a third of production is exported. The largest foreign market is France, ahead of Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. The most important non-European markets are the United States, China and Russia.

With the new RAL-label of origin "Furniture Made in Germany" launched in the summer of 2020, German furniture manufacturers want to tap into further sales opportunities. The geographical guarantee of origin label stands for quality furniture made in Germany.