The European production of office furniture increased by 3.3% in 2011. The year has been characterised by a certain dichotomy as it performed well in the first half and slowed down in the last two quarters. On the international front, the 2.8% increase in exports has been accompanied by a substantial stability in imports. As a consequence, apparent consumption increased by 2.6% over the year. Market openness slowed in 2011 as import penetration (imports/consumption) reduced to 30% (31% in 2010) while exports/production ratio stabilised at 32%.
Generally speaking the positive performance of the European market in 2011 has been driven by Germany, Austria and the Nordic Countries. Considerable drop has been registered by some relevant market in Southern Europe.
The restructuring process at an industrial level continued also in 2011 with a certain number of companies interested by insolvency procedures, factory closures and M&A process. Industrial and logistic costs showed increase in the second half of the year.