The value of Japan’s January 2020 wooden kitchen furniture imports, while being down 7% year-on-year, was up around 8% from December, as ITTO reported.
Japanese house builders were affected by a slow-down of exports of kitchen supplies from Chinese suppliers and some builders faced delays in completing the interior house fittings.
The Philippines and Vietnam accounted for over 70% of Japan’s imports of wooden kitchen furniture in January with a further 14% of the value of imports being shipped from China leaving little market share for other shippers.
January 2020 shipments from Vietnam, the biggest supplier in January were up 19% but the Philippines saw a 10% decline in shipments. Surprisingly there was a 36% surge in shipments from China in January, most likely due to fears that the corona virus could spread and disrupt production and shipments.
