Global Furniture Production: Comparing China, the EU, and the USA

The aim of this analysis is to show how major furniture-producing regions — China, the United States, and the European Union (EU27) — compare in scale and how their production has evolved over time. By looking at nominal and price-adjusted production levels, the goal is to give a clear impression of the relative size of each region and the broader global trends shaping the industry.

To build a consistent dataset, annual production data from UNIDO were combined with national sources (NBS, BEA, and Eurostat) to fill gaps and extend the time series. The data is then adjusted for price changes using national producer price indices (PPIs), ensuring that differences reflect real production volumes rather than inflation.

Nominal Production Output

Furniture production remains highly concentrated among three global players — China, the EU, and the United States. After years of steady expansion, China’s output peaked in 2022 before easing in 2023–2024. The EU experienced a strong post-pandemic rebound but has since corrected slightly, while US production has grown more gradually, showing modest gains from pre-2020 levels.

This nominal data suggests a shift in dynamics where EU closes in on China's production size. However price adjusted data shows a more modest picture, as discussed in the next paragraphs.

Producer Prices: Diverging Cost Trends

The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures the average change in prices that manufacturers receive for their products, capturing cost trends at the production stage rather than at retail. For the furniture industry, producer prices have increased sharply in the United States and the European Union since 2021 — by roughly 30–40% — reflecting higher input costs, logistics pressures, and energy prices.

In contrast, China’s furniture PPI has remained almost flat, indicating limited price inflation. These diverging price trends are crucial when comparing output across regions, as much of the nominal growth in the US and EU reflects inflation rather than a real expansion in production volumes.

Real Production Output

When adjusted for producer price inflation, the apparent growth in the US and EU furniture industries largely disappears, revealing only modest real gains since 2020. In contrast, China’s output shows a clearer decline once inflation differences are accounted for, reflecting a real contraction in production volumes rather than stable nominal values. Overall, the price-adjusted data point to a cooling global furniture industry, with slower demand and weaker production momentum across all major regions.

Conclusion

At first glance, nominal data suggest that China remains by far the largest furniture producer worldwide, followed by the EU and the United States. However, producer prices have evolved very differently across these regions: while the US and EU have seen strong price inflation since 2020, China’s furniture PPI has remained almost flat.

Once production output is adjusted for these price effects, the picture changes — China’s real production shows a more visible decline in recent years, while much of the apparent growth in the US and EU reflects higher prices rather than increased volumes. The adjusted figures therefore reveal a global market that has cooled more broadly than nominal values imply, with China’s slowdown standing out in real terms.

Definitions:
Scope of analytics is "furniture" in accordance of United Nations unified ISIC classification: NAICS 337, NACE code 31 and GB/T 4754.
Definitions used are production output or the equivalent defined production value. ECB currency exchange is used for transfer to Euro.

The producer price indexes have minor definitional difference:

• China: ex-factory prices on first sale, domestic only, essentially factory-gate prices; VAT is excluded.
• European Union: basic prices at factory-gate, domestic only, excluding VAT and similar taxes; add subsidies.
• United States: prices received for net output sold outside the industry.

Sources:
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS)
Eurostat - structural business statistics
US Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis
US Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics