In 2021, the volume of furniture imports from Belarus to Russia reached 385.1 million USD. This represents a 35.4% increase to the corresponding period of the previous year. This gross estimation also includes parts of furniture, mattresses, bedding, mattress supports, healthcare and other professional furniture, so the HS codes 9401, 9402, 9403, 9404 are considered.
The share of Belarus in Russian furniture imports is as much as 15% in 2021, which is higher than in 2019 (13.6%) and 2020 (14.4%).
Furniture imports from Belarus consist mainly of
- other wooden furniture excluding for offices, kitchens, bedrooms or seats, priced up to 1.8 EUR per kilo (14.8%),
- parts (10%), with wooden parts and metal parts being the top product groups here,
- wooden furniture for dining and living rooms, priced higher than 1.8 EUR per kilo (9.1%),
- fitted kitchen units of wood (8.8%),
- seating furniture convertible into a bed (8.5%),
- wooden furniture for dining and living rooms, priced up to 1.8 EUR per kilo (6.3%),
- upholstered seating furniture with wooden frames (6.3%),
- and upholstered seats with metal frames excluding swivel chairs (4.7%).
These categories together provide more than 68% of the total value of furniture imported from this country. Each other furniture category accounts for 3% or less.
The growth in 2021 was mainly driven by
- other wooden furniture excluding for offices, kitchens, bedrooms or seats, priced up to 1.8 EUR per kilo (+68%),
- seating furniture convertible into a bed (+59%),
- upholstered seating furniture with wooden frames (+41%),
- parts (+37%).
Some smaller scale categories also showed a higher than average increase, for instance:
- metal furniture excluding beds or professional furniture (+76%),
- wooden furniture of a kind used in offices (+47%).
The average price for furniture imported to Russia from this country is much lower than average. Actually, furniture imports from Belarus are the cheapest among all countries importing to Russia. In 2021, the average price declared at customs reached 1.99 USD per kilo (previously 1.87 USD in 2019 and 1.80 USD in 2020).
The weighted average of the currency exchange rate was 73.6541 RUB for 1 USD in the current period under review. This rate shall be used to accurately convert the imported value to rubles.
The imported volume reported by the Russian Federal Customs Service is often different from the relative trade numbers declared by origin country (i.e. so called mirror data). This is due to specifics of procedures and customs clearance in the Eurasian Economic Union (with the common outer border and no customs barriers between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan) and partial shift of imports to the statistical “gray zone”. It’s important to bear this factor in mind when estimating the real weight of imports in the Russian furniture market. We always run such a cross-check within our extended Market Reports.
The imports data provided here is a preliminary estimation made by the Russian Federal Customs Service immediately after the reporting period, available at the time this news item is being published. Evidently, numbers are subject to change: the Customs update their analytics retrospectively, even a long time after the reporting period is finished. Those updated numbers and most actual data shall be included into our extended Market Reports.
