The suppliers' industries and the consumption of raw materials
45% of the total production value of furniture consists of purchase of raw materials and semi-finished products. Purchases of services represent almost 10% of turnover. Between 2 and 5% of turnover is invested in new machinery.
Raw materials and semi-finished products can represent large markets shares for the suppliers’ industries of the furniture industry. There is a certain interdependence between the furniture industry and its suppliers: the interdependence is the most important between the wood industry and the furniture industry but other industries such as wood and coating machines, hardware, coatings, glues, foams have also specialisation for the furniture sector. Major development of products and materials are made in co-operation with the furniture manufacturers.
In average, 45% of total production value consists of purchase of specific raw materials or semi-finished products by the furniture industry from other manufacturing industries.
The total costs for raw materials for the EU furniture industry represented 34 billion Euro in 1999.
The purchase of certain raw materials represents a substantial market share to some of the suppliers to the furniture industry. In fact, there is interdependence between the furniture industry and some of the suppliers' industries.
This interdependence is the most important between the wood-transforming industry and the furniture industry. On the EU level, the furniture industry annually buys 55% of the production of particle boards, 20% of the sawn woods and about 90% of the production of MDF that is more and more used in the manufacturing of furniture.
The table presents the consumption of wood and wooden products by the furniture industry. Globally, almost 3 million m³ of sawn wood are used by the furniture industry compared with almost 12 million m³ of particle boards and 3 million m³ of medium density fibre boards (MDF).
It is estimated that about 2.2 millions of tonnes of sawn wood are annually consumed by the furniture industry.
Total volume of particleboards and of MDF respectively represents 8.5 millions of tonnes (average density of 650 kg/m³) and 2.7 millions of tonnes of MDF (average density of 800 kg/m³).
Concerning the non-wooden products, metal (ferrous and non-ferrous) is also widely used by the furniture manufacturers. The total volume of metal annually consumed exceeds 1 million tonnes
The furniture industry is also an important customer to the PU foam industry, annually purchasing a third of the total production of this sector. A total production of 500,000 tonnes of PU foams is used by the upholstery and mattresses industries (respectively 350,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes).
To produce upholstery and mattresses, 230 million metres (x1.4 m or 322 million m²) of fabrics are used in the EU furniture industry. The equivalent weight represents 260,000 tonnes for the whole EU.
18% of the production of leather tanneries are targeted to the furniture industry (this part is increasing): it accounts for 44 million m² of leather, or 40,000 tonnes.
Almost 7% of the production of total flat glass produced in Europe are bought by the furniture industry. This represents about 0.4 million tonnes of glass.
A quarter of the production of hardware is also bought by the furniture industry (from specialised companies) to integrate it in furniture (equivalent weight of 420,000 tonnes).
The industry annually consumes 10% of coatings for industrial use (200,000 tonnes) and 16% of the production of glues and adhesives (300,000 tonnes).
The following table shows the various outlets for the most representative types of products purchased by the furniture industry.
Almost 10% of turnover is dedicated to purchases of services (transport, marketing, consulting, financial, insurance) both from major companies and small national companies. Globally it is estimated that 250,000 persons work in the suppliers’ industries directly for the furniture sector.