BERLIN: The value of German kitchen furniture exports in 2015 was 9.5% higher than a year earlier at €1,699bn. Both halves of the year contributed to the growth to similar extents; an increase of 9.4% was recorded for the first half-year. According to the foreign trade statistics for kitchen furniture compiled by the Association of the German Kitchen Furniture Industry (VdDK) on the basis of provisional data from the federal statistics office Destatis the value of exports to each of the 10 most important export markets increased in 2015.
France remained the biggest foreign market with an increase of 9.3% to €391.3m even though higher growth rates were recorded for the Netherlands and Switzerland, ranking second and third respectively. Deliveries to the Netherlands increased 13.1% to €217.4m and exports to Switzerland rose by 15.4% to €193.6m. Belgium (+3.0%) and Austria (+0.9%) were both slightly up on the previous year’s figures. Double-figure growth was registered for each of the subsequently lower-ranking countries: UK (+17.7%), China (+10.4%), USA (+31.9%), and Spain (+15.0%). Exports to Italy rose by 7.6%. Overall, these 10 biggest export markets accounted for €1.421bn or 83.6% of the total exports.
