More than 34,000 exhibitors from 43 countries attended the annual Poznan furniture and furniture raw materials show last week, reports industry consultant Michael Buckley.
Among the exhibitors from the international timber trade were veneer slicers Danzer and Fritz Kohl, beech lumber producers Pollmeier from Germany, veneer producers Alpi from Italy and Flooring manufacturers Bohman’ s from Sweden.
Species trends in Poznan were easy to discern. Softwood furniture was notable by its absence – completing the total change from just a few years ago. Beech still holds its own, especially for chairs and tables. Birch is more strongly in evidence and oak, mainly Polish, is widely used by local manufacturers. There is also cherry, real and fake, European and American, veneer and solid. Cherry products made locally and imported were clearly the biggest fashion item. But the greatest hindrance to development in imported species is the lack of a trade structure and specialised importers and distributors.
With Poland’s emerging importance as a furniture producer and wood processor, especially for the German industry, the Poznan event is taking on ever-increasing significance.
Last year Poland was second biggest supplier to IKEA after China, and ahead of Italy. However, the country lacks saw-milling and drying capacity to satisfy the expansion that has taken its furniture export sales to 7% of all national exports.
The sawmill industry’s production is currently running at about 6.3 million m3 of sawn wood per year. In 2000, pine was the major species at 4.6 million m3, and 900,000m3 of other coniferous (larch, fir and spruce). Hardwood sawn lumber amounts to 500,000m3 of beech and 300,000m3 of oak. Local sources say capacity growth is limited to these figures by outdated equipment, lack of investment and insufficient drying capacity.
