Trend, Structure, and Competitiveness of Global Wooden Furniture Trade

Abstract In this study, the global trade of wooden furniture between 1993 and 2020 and the role of macroeconomic conditions, as measured by global gross domestic product per capita, are analyzed to explain the observed trade movement. Market shares of imports and exports, trade competitiveness indices, and a time series econometric modeling approach are used. Results show that most of the top 10 wooden furniture importing countries were consistently high-income economies, whereas the top 10 exporters changed from all high-income countries in 1993 to one-half of them being low- and middle-income countries in 2020. Further, based on trade competitiveness indices, the top 10 most competitive countries shifted dramatically in the study period. A positive, one-to-one relationship between the imports of wooden furniture and global gross domestic product per capita was found, suggesting that import demand rises with higher income levels.