Local furniture manufacturing companies declare that the cost of imported materials has increased by 10-15%, while furniture price is 80% up since the start of the pandemic.
Gocha Dvalishvili, Board Member of the Georgian Furniture Cluster declares that most of the raw materials for furniture are exported from Turkey and the share of Russia-Ukraine is minimal.
According to him, the share of locally produced furniture is also growing. As the Georgian Furniture Cluster declares, over 25% of total turnover accounted for Georgian production before the pandemic. Today this figure reaches 45%. The main reason for the growth is the 300% -500% increase in the cost of container shipping from China to Georgia, which has significantly adjusted the prices of imported furniture.
"Turkey is the main supplier of our materials, the share of Russia and Ukraine is low, we also receive materials from Poland and several European countries. Prices have increased by 80% since the start of COVID-19, while the growth totals to 10-15% within last month due to higher fuel prices and the war. We do not have any type of shortages.
Recently, the demand for Georgian furniture is growing due to its high quality. In addition, the supply of furniture from China has become more complicated and more expensive. The share of local production on the Georgian market is already 40-45%," Gocha Dvalishvili said.
