Chinese competition deepens Poland’s 54-month furniture industry downturn

Industry downturn reaches 54 months

Poland’s furniture industry, the European Union’s third-largest, has remained in a downturn for 54 months, according to a B+R Studio report cited by Rzeczpospolita. Sold production was worth 4.44 billion złoty in January 2026 but had fallen by nearly 300 million złoty by July. Across the first seven months of the year, output was 3.2% below the corresponding period of 2025.

Profitability has deteriorated alongside production. The industry’s profitability ratio declined from 6.4% in 2023 to 4% in the first half of 2026, its lowest level since 2019. Of 360 large companies reporting results in the first quarter of 2026, 30% were unprofitable. A year earlier, one-third of 370 reporting companies had recorded losses.

Bank Pekao data show that Polish domestic furniture sales fell 8% in the first half of 2026, while exports decreased 5%. Although most of the EU furniture industry is stagnating, Poland has made virtually no market-share gains since 2019. Chinese manufacturers, by contrast, increased their share of EU furniture imports by more than 6 percentage points over six years.

Chinese suppliers gain at home and abroad

Poland imported a record €1.1 billion of furniture from China in 2025, according to B+R Studio, more than double the €545 million recorded in 2019. China’s share of Polish furniture imports reached about 35%, the EU’s second-highest level after the Netherlands, where Chinese products account for 46%.

The same competitive shift is visible across Europe. Between 2019 and 2025, Poland’s share of EU furniture imports fell by 0.4 percentage points, while China’s rose by 6.3 points. Krzysztof Mrówczyński of Bank Pekao said Chinese furniture exports to the EU increased by nearly 60% over that period, compared with only 7% growth for Poland.

Polish suppliers lost import share in France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Spain during the past two years. Their share in Germany edged higher, but the value of sales there fell 16%. Chinese suppliers increased their share among all leading European buyers, in some markets by more than 10 percentage points. Industry representatives argue that tariffs restricting Chinese access to the large US market have redirected more supply toward Europe.

Costs, jobs and wood supply increase the pressure

Lower-priced Asian competition has coincided with rising Polish labour, tax and social insurance costs. Average gross monthly pay in Poland’s furniture industry rose by half between January 2022 and July 2026, reaching 7,065 złoty, B+R Studio managing director Tomasz Wiktorski said. Producers cut 30,000 jobs between 2022 and 2026, leaving employment at 134,000. Coface recorded 82 furniture manufacturing insolvencies in 2025, up from 70 in 2024, 53 in 2023, 37 in 2022 and 22 in 2021. Black Red White is also ending kitchen furniture production at its Zamość plant by the close of the second quarter of 2026.

Raw-material constraints are compounding the problem. The loss of 3 million cubic metres of wood and biomass from sanctioned Russia and Belarus was followed by a further 3 million-cubic-metre reduction in domestic supply linked to government decisions. The annual accumulated shortfall now exceeds 7 million cubic metres. Pellet production grew by 550,000 tonnes between 2021 and 2025 and absorbs the equivalent of about 1.2 million cubic metres of wood annually. Industry groups have asked the Polish authorities to ensure stable supply of at least 41 million cubic metres a year and to support imports if domestic availability cannot reach that level. Automation, consolidation and direct access to customers may help, but continued margin pressure could also lead some companies to consider relocating production.