Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management 
ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 7, No. 3, 2023 

 

57 

Research	on	the	Problems	and	Countermeasures	of	
China's	Wooden	Furniture	Product	Exports	
Qiqian Wang 

Minzu University of China, Beijing, China 

 

Abstract: After the reform and opening up, China's wooden furniture industry has made great progress. The production of 
wooden furniture has continued to grow, and the total amount of exports is also steadily increasing. Wooden furniture is also an 
integral part of our daily life. As China's economy continues to develop, the demand for wooden furniture is increasing and the 
proportion of its exports is rising year on year. Since China's accession to the WTO, China's exports of wooden furniture have 
gradually expanded and China's influence and competitiveness in the international market has increased. However, there are still 
many problems in China's wooden furniture export trade, including the export market being too congregated and facing trade 
barriers; facing competitive pressure from the markets of emerging countries, led by Vietnam; increasing export costs and low 
added value of products; and a single product structure and weak brand awareness. The main reason for these problems is that 
the export value of Chinese wooden furniture products is small, the export scale is not large, and the export scale fluctuates; the 
export product structure is simple, of which bedroom wooden furniture occupies a large proportion; the export market structure 
is too aggregated, mainly in the United States. Therefore, China's wooden furniture industry should continue to optimize the 
market structure of products, and actively respond to trade barriers; actively respond to the challenges from the international 
market, to strengthen international competitiveness; constantly adjust the product structure, establish and strengthen brand 
awareness, to create high-quality, high value-added wooden furniture products, in order to promote the development of wooden 
furniture export trade. 

Keywords: Wooden furniture, Export market, Product structure, Trade barriers, International competitiveness. 
 

1. Preface 
The furniture industry, as an important civil industry, 

influences the development of China's national economy to a 
certain extent and plays an important role in meeting the 
quality of life of consumers, dealing with the problem of 
difficult employment, stimulating the rapid development of 
the regional economy and promoting international trade. As a 
large exporter of furniture, China's competitive advantage in 
the international arena is obvious. The main types of furniture 
exported from China include bamboo furniture, rattan 
furniture, furniture made of other materials, furniture made of 
plastic, wooden furniture for bedrooms, wooden furniture for 
kitchens, wooden furniture for offices, other types of wooden 
furniture, office metal furniture, other metal furniture and 
other medical furniture and parts thereof [1]. And in recent 
years, China's wooden furniture industry has been flourishing 
and the export trade of Chinese wooden furniture products has 
been developing rapidly. However, in the course of 
international trade, due to the unstable international market 
situation, China's wooden furniture industry also suffers from 
different degrees of challenges, while China's wooden 
furniture industry also suffers from major or minor problems. 
In this situation, China's wooden furniture industry should 
combine the situation of wooden furniture products export, 
grasp the current market, deeper into their own problems, dig 
more comprehensive, more targeted development strategies 
to enhance the international influence and competitiveness of 
wooden furniture products, to create a different, characteristic 
wooden furniture products, to promote the export trade of 
Chinese wooden furniture products, to promote Chinese 
wooden furniture products "out of home", to the international 
arena. This is of great significance to the export trade of 
Chinese wooden furniture products. 

2. Status of Domestic Production of 
Wooden Furniture in China 

China's wooden furniture manufacturing industry is an 
important part of China's manufacturing industry. Before 
analysing the current situation of China's wooden furniture 
exports, this paper first analyses the current domestic 
situation of China's wooden furniture. 

The furniture industry is labour-intensive, and because of 
the abundant supply of upstream raw materials, stable prices 
and low technical barriers, there are a huge number of 
enterprises in the Chinese furniture industry, thus also 
allowing many furniture enterprises to gather together [2]. 
With these furniture enterprises gathered together, the 
Chinese furniture industry has gradually formed five major 
manufacturing regions, with the supply of raw materials 
(woodlands and ports) as the mainstay and the consumer 
market areas as the complementary ones. The furniture 
industrial zones in South China are mostly produced in 
Guangdong and Guangxi, and the product range is also more 
successful, mainly sold to Shenzhen, Dongguan and Shunde, 
the furniture industry clusters; the furniture industrial zones 
in East China - represented by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and 
Shanghai Yangtze River Delta region, with a good production 
base and convenient transport conditions, the furniture is 
exported to Europe and the United States, with products 
mainly in European-style bedrooms and offices; North China 
Furniture Industrial Park - furniture manufacturing 
enterprises are concentrated in Hebei and Shandong, two 
domestic consumer markets with great potential, led by the 
production of classical furniture; Northeast China Furniture 
Industrial Park - relying on its original industrial base and 
timber resources, furniture manufacturing enterprises mainly 



 

58 

in Shenyang and Heilongjiang, led by the production of solid 
wood furniture, products are mainly exported to the markets 
of Northeast Asia and European countries and regions; 
Central and Western Furniture Industrial Park - Sichuan is a 
concentrated area, while the market of furniture 
manufacturing is concentrated in Central and Western[2] . 

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 
30,000 enterprises in China's furniture industry. By the end of 
May 2020, there were 50 furniture industry bases in China 
recognised by the China Furniture Association. These 

furniture production bases can be divided into eight categories 
according to type: traditional furniture production areas, 
wood furniture production areas, office furniture production 
areas, metal furniture production areas, trade bases, export 
bases, etc.; and six categories according to region: South 
China, East China, Southwest China, North China, Northeast 
China, etc.[3] . Among them, wood furniture production areas 
are mainly scattered in East China and Northeast China, see 
Table 1 The main wood furniture producing areas are in 
Eastern China and Northeast China, See Table 1.    

 
Table 1. Distribution of wood furniture production areas* 

Place name Province Title Type Geographical area 

Zhuanghe 
Liaoning 
Province 

China Solid Wood Furniture Industry 
Base 

Wooden furniture 
production areas 

Northeast China 

Yuhuan 
Zhejiang 
Province 

China's European classical furniture 
production base 

Wooden furniture 
production areas 

Eastern China 

Ningjin 
Shandong 
Province 

The home of solid wood furniture in 
China 

Wooden furniture 
production areas 

Eastern China 

Chongzhou 
Sichuan 
Province 

China Panel Furniture Industry Base 
Wooden furniture 
production areas 

South West 

Nankang 
Jiangxi 

Province 
Central China Furniture Industry 

Base 
Wooden furniture 
production areas 

Eastern China 

Pulandian 
Liaoning 
Province 

Famous Chinese Cabinet City 
Wooden furniture 
production areas 

Northeast China 

 
 Self-drawn according to the table "China Furniture Industry Base Inventory 50 Chinese Furniture Industry Cluster 

Regional Furniture Market Which" published by Xin Yang Talent Network 
( https://www.yiqizp.com/news/20210914/3952.html ) 

 
It is clear from the distribution of appealing wooden 

furniture production areas that wooden furniture is an 
important part of China's furniture industry. According to data 
compiled by the China Economic Intelligence Network: In 
2020, China's total furniture production was 912 million 
pieces, of which 322 million pieces of wooden furniture were 

produced, accounting for 35.3% of all furniture types 
produced, second only to the production of metal furniture[4] . 
See Figure 1. The production of wooden furniture is therefore 
also a major factor in the production of furniture. Wooden 
furniture is therefore also one of the most important products 
produced by the furniture industry. 

 

 
Figure 1. Share of production of various types of furniture in China in 2020** 

 
 Self-drawn from data collated from the "Analysis of the Current Development Status and Trends of China's Wooden 

Furniture Industry, with Emphasis on Sustainable Development in the Future" published by Huajing Intelligence 
( https://www.sohu.com/a/463693066_120113054 ) 

 
And along with China's steady macroeconomic growth, the 

country's wood furniture industry has also experienced steady 
growth. 2019, China's wood furniture production reached 
315.643 million pieces, up 1.4% compared to the same month 

last year; 2020, China's wood furniture production reached 
321.5 million pieces, up 1.9% compared to the same month 
last year[5] . See Figure 2. 

 

wooden 
furniture, 
35.30%

metal 
furniture, 
44.30%

other furniture
20.40%



 

59 

 
Figure 2. Wooden furniture production statistics in China, 2015-2020* 

 Self-drawn from data collated from the "Analysis of the Current Development Status and Trends of China's Wooden 
Furniture Industry, with Emphasis on Sustainable Development in the Future" published by Huajing Intelligence 

( https://www.sohu.com/a/463693066_120113054 ) 
 

According to Figure 3. The statistics of wood furniture 
production in China by provinces and cities in 2020 compiled 
by China Huajing Intelligence we can know that the 
production volume of wood furniture in China reached 
32,157,700 pieces in 2020, among which Guangdong 
Province had the highest production volume with 60,632,000 

pieces; followed by Zhejiang Province with 42,939,000 
pieces; Shandong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces had the 
production volume of wood furniture close to 34,714,400 
pieces, 34,456,400 pieces and 34,376,200 pieces respectively 
[4]. These figures show that Guangdong Province is the main 
producer of wooden furniture in China. 

 

 
Figure 3. Wooden furniture production statistics by province and city in China, 2020* 

 
 Self-drawn from data collated from the "Analysis of the Current Development Status and Trends of China's Wooden 

Furniture Industry, with Emphasis on Sustainable Development in the Future" published by Huajing Intelligence 
( https://www.sohu.com/a/463693066_120113054 ) 

 

3. Current Status of China's Wooden 
Furniture Exports 

The above analysis of the domestic production status of 
China's wooden furniture, from the above it can be seen that 
China's wooden furniture production areas are mainly 

scattered in East China and Northeast China, Guangdong 
Province is the main production area of China's wooden 
furniture. And along with the steady growth of China's macro 
economy, China's wooden furniture industry has also 
experienced steady growth. This paper begins to analyse the 
current situation of China's wooden furniture exports. 

25315.3 26051.7
27072.9

31128.5 31564.3 32157.3

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Production (million pieces) Growth rate (%)

60632001
42293907

34714375
34565377
34376212

29908334
20293414
20293414

7401451
6372900

5714617
5500603

4656096
4515031

3706224
3240305

2573310
2120706
1769321

996743
406816
107908
30454
25484

0 10000000 20000000 30000000 40000000 50000000 60000000 70000000

Guangdong
Zhejiang

Shandong
Fujian

Jiangxi
Jiangsu
Sichuan

Liaoning
Anhui

Chongqing
Henan
Hubei

Hunan
Hebei

Shanghai
Beijing

Tianjing
Heilongjiang

Guizhou
Shaanxi
Guangxi
Yunnan
Xinjiang

宁夏

Wooden furniture production (pieces)



 

60 

3.1. China's wooden furniture exports show 
large fluctuations in scale 

In recent years China's furniture industry has been renewed 
and adjusted, but because of the economic downturn resulting 
in reduced consumer demand for furniture. 2020 China's 
wooden furniture exports amounted to about 21.171 million 
pieces, while in 2020 China's domestic production of wooden 
furniture was about 325.773 million pieces, which shows that 
China's wooden furniture exports accounted for 6.75% of 
domestic production and domestic consumption 93.25%. It is 
obvious that the proportion of China's wooden furniture 
exports is obviously too small, which is enough to show the 
current situation of the small scale of China's wooden 

furniture products exports. And by Figure 4 of the data, it can 
be seen that China's wooden furniture exports were 
US$13.728 billion in 2017 and US$13.488 billion in 2018, 
while in 2019 and 2020, affected by the new crown 
pneumonia epidemic, China's wooden furniture exports 
dropped significantly in these two years, to US$11.632 billion 
and US$11.826 billion respectively, with a significant 
rebound in 2021, when the wooden furniture exports return to 
normal, rising to US$13.587 billion. It is clear from the bar 
chart that the trend of the entire bar chart from 2017 to 2021 
shows a "U" shape, and it is not difficult to judge that the scale 
of China's exports of wooden furniture products has shown 
large fluctuations during these five years. 

 

 
Figure 4. China's wooden furniture exports, 2017-2021 (in USD billion)* 

 
 Compiled from the China Customs database and drawn in-house 

 

3.2. A large proportion of bedroom furniture 
in the product mix of exports  

In addition to the scale of exports, the structure of export 
products is also a major factor reflecting the current status of 
China's wooden furniture exports. In terms of export product 
structure, among the four types of wooden furniture, they are 

office furniture, kitchen furniture, bedroom furniture and 
furniture for other purposes (HS940330, HS940340, 
HS940350, HS940360) [6] , from Figure 5 It can be seen that 
other types of wooden furniture accounted for a large share of 
China's total exports from 2017 to 2021, followed by wooden 
bedroom, kitchen and office furniture[7] . 

 

 
Figure 5. Share of wood furniture products by type, 2017-2021** 

 
 Calculated from data in Table 3 

 
And Table 2. The data shows that in 2021, exports of wood 

furniture in the other category were the largest compared to 
the remaining three categories, at US$36,865 million, 
followed by exports of wood furniture for bedrooms at 

US$15,103 million, while exports of wood furniture for 
kitchens and public furniture totalled less than US$10 billion, 
at US$6,574 million and US$5,719 million respectively. In 
the five-year period from 2017 to 2021, other types of wooden 

137.28
134.88

116.32
118.26

135.87

105

110

115

120

125

130

135

140

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

China's wooden furniture exports, 2017-2021 (in USD billion)

public 
furnitur…

wood 
furniture for 

kitchens, 
10.20%

wood 
furniture for 
bedrooms

23.50%

wood 
furniture in 
the other 
category, 

57.40%

public furniture

wood furniture for kitchens

wood furniture for bedrooms

wood furniture in the other category



 

61 

furniture have been occupying the first place in China's 
wooden furniture exports, while wooden furniture for 
bedrooms has been holding the second place. This shows that, 

in addition to other types of wooden furniture, wooden 
bedroom furniture occupies a larger proportion of China's 
wooden furniture export product mix. 

 
Table 2. China's wooden furniture exports, 2017 - 2021 (in USD billion)* 

Type 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total 
940330 (Wooden furniture for 

offices) 
11.68 12.00 9.72 11.41 12.38 57.19 

940340 (Wooden furniture for 
kitchens) 

15.94 19.04 13.71 8.62 8.43 65.74 

940350 (Wooden furniture for 
bedrooms) 

40.59 31.20 26.95 25.97 26.32 151.03 

940360 (Other wood furniture) 69.07 72.64 65.94 72.26 88.74 368.65 
 

 Compiled from China Customs database and self-drawn 
 

3.3. The market structure of exports is 
dominated by the United States 

In addition to the above-mentioned export scale and export 
product structure, the export market is also an aspect that 
reflects the current status of China's wooden furniture exports. 
An analysis of the many export markets for Chinese wooden 
furniture shows that the USA, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, 
Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Vietnam, 
Singapore, Malaysia, Italy, France and other developed 
countries and regions are our main export destinations. Some 
of the above-mentioned export country markets account for a 

large proportion of China's wooden furniture exports, while 
the export markets are relatively concentrated, with the US 
market always being the first market for China's wooden 
furniture exports[8] . In 2020, China's wooden furniture 
exports to the US amounted to USD 83,711,600, in 2019 to 
USD 80,446,600, in 2018 to USD 86,490,700, and 
US$83,661,600 in 2017[9] . Compared to the Netherlands, 
Hong Kong region of China, Poland, Vietnam, France and 
other countries and regions, the US is far ahead of them all. 
China's wooden furniture exports are dependent on the US 
market, which is highly vulnerable to the economic impact of 
these countries and regions. As Table 3 is shown. 

 
Table 3. China's major wooden furniture products export targets and transaction value, 2017-2020 (Unit: USD million)** 

Country/region 2017 2018 2019 2020 

United States 8366.16 8649.07 8044.66 8371.16 
Netherlands 2101.24 2180.86 470.43 5797.43 

Hong Kong, China 608.89 441.15 1246.06 799.60 
Poland 390.03 378.01 468.79 754.59 
Sweden 740.23 596.09 510.83 730.12 
Belgium 2560.08 2436.10 2142.24 656.40 

Denmark 889.57 710.44 519.09 593.66 
Germany 137.78 878.37 1102.89 469.19 
Vietnam 944.34 131.70 815.87 439.10 

Singapore 111.39 33.66 67.96 201.86 
Malaysia 325.86 27.83 718.93 169.70 

Italy 78.94 72.51 120.10 159.13 
France 382.84 313.31 106.08 71.73 

 
 Compiled from UN databases and self-drawn 

 

4. Problems and Causes of China's 
Wooden Furniture Export Trade 

In the rapidly developing Chinese wooden furniture export 
trade, the current status quo of Chinese wooden furniture 
exports is that the export scale fluctuates greatly, the export 
product structure of wooden bedroom furniture occupies a 
larger proportion, and the export market structure is 
dominated by the United States. Under this status quo, there 
are more problems with Chinese wooden furniture. This paper 
examines these problems and analyses the reasons for their 
existence. 

4.1. Export markets are too concentrated and 
face trade barriers 

For a long time, the concentration of Chinese wooden 

furniture exports in the international market has been 
relatively high, mainly based on the US market. As Table 4 
shows, from 2017 to 2020, China's wooden furniture products 
often rank first in terms of export value to the United States, 
far ahead of other countries. And according to a collated 
analysis of data from the UN database, it can be seen that the 
main sales markets for Chinese wooden furniture are the US, 
Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China and other countries and 
regions. Thus it can be seen that China's wooden furniture 
export market is too aggregated. 

Export markets are too concentrated, Chinese wooden 
furniture exporters are highly dependent on the above markets 
and thus vulnerable to the direct influence of a number of 
factors, easily controlled by these countries and in a more 
passive position, thus greatly increasing the risk, which means 
that Chinese wooden furniture products are not only facing 



 

62 

great resistance, but also facing a decline in exports[10] . 
Starting from the obstacles faced by China's wooden furniture 
export industry, Chinese wooden furniture companies have 
long been affected by technical barriers to trade, anti-dumping 
measures and green barriers to trade, which to some extent 
can hinder the export of Chinese wooden furniture 
products.In September 2018, the United States imposed a 10% 
tariff on approximately US$200 billion worth of Chinese 
exports to the United States, and since 1 January 2019 
Beginning on 1 January 2019, the tariff was adjusted by 25%, 
covering more than 40% of Chinese exports to the US, 
including wooden bedroom furniture, wooden kitchen 
furniture, and wooden office furniture.On 6 March 2019, the 
US International Trade Commission ruled that Chinese 
exports of wooden cabinets and bathroom cabinets to the US 
caused significant material injury to a similar furniture 
industry in the US, and the US plans to make a final decision 
on 24 March 2020 to anti-dumping and countervailing 
investigations in relation to wood furniture from China. In an 
announcement issued by the US Department of Commerce on 
3 January 2022, the US opened a third anti-dumping 
investigation into exports of Chinese wooden bedroom 
furniture to the US. These are all trade measure policies 
adopted by the United States against China's wooden 
furniture exports. These trade measure policies have had a 
significant impact on China's wooden furniture export trade, 
inhibiting the export of Chinese wooden furniture products in 
various ways. In addition to the above-mentioned barriers, 
China's wooden furniture exports are also subject to the 
impact of the EU's "Green Barrier". The EU's "Green Barrier" 
covers all manufacturing and sales processes of wooden 
furniture and to some extent raises the price of internationally 
recognised raw materials, which is a huge challenge for 
Chinese wooden furniture exporters. production costs[11] . 
The establishment, introduction and implementation of green 
trade barriers in the EU has led to a significant decline in the 
export value and profitability of Chinese wooden furniture 
products. In addition, compared to EU member states, China's 
environmental awareness is low and China's national green 
standards are not yet up to the EU's green standards. 

4.2. Facing competitive pressure from 
emerging country markets led by Vietnam 

In addition to facing trade barriers, China's wooden 
furniture export trade is also facing challenges from the 
markets of these emerging countries, led by Vietnam, and 
Chinese wooden furniture enterprises have to bear the huge 
competitive pressure brought by these emerging countries and 
regions. In recent years, Vietnam has experienced better 
economic development, and its geographical location and 
international trade agreements are clearly good. Vietnam 
intends to vigorously develop wood processing and develop 
wooden furniture. China and Vietnam are the largest exporters 
of wooden furniture, their products have similar production 
factors with similar trends and their export markets have a 
high degree of overlap and occupy an important position in 
the global market. In addition, with the continuous changes in 
international trade, exports of wooden furniture from Vietnam 
are also increasing rapidly and competition between countries 
is becoming increasingly fierce. 

Because of the larger scale form of China's wooden 
furniture exports, China is more susceptible than Vietnam to 
the changing world market demand which has an impact on 
China's wooden furniture export trade. The increase in trade 

protectionist forces, the increase in trade barriers and the 
decline in trade facilitation have led to a slight decline in 
China's wooden furniture exports and a decrease in China's 
international market share[12] . Wooden furniture is labour-
intensive and its development cannot be achieved without 
labour[13] . As China's population ages and the price of 
labour in China continues to rise, the advantage of cheap 
labour in China is fading and wood furniture industries 
around the world are beginning to migrate to South East Asia. 
With high labour prices and a weak industrial base, Vietnam 
has acquired many of the furniture manufacturing companies 
that have relocated. The structure of Vietnam's wooden 
furniture exports has gradually improved and Vietnam's 
influence and competitiveness in the world is increasing. As 
China's export trade in wooden furniture continues to grow, 
the share of wooden furniture in the international market 
continues to decline, the competitiveness and market 
competitiveness of China's wooden furniture industry 
continues to decline, and the rapid development of Vietnam's 
wooden furniture industry has caused great competitive 
pressure on China's wooden furniture exports[12] . 

4.3. Increased costs and lower value added 
products 

Chinese wooden furniture companies are not only under 
pressure from competing countries, but also face rising 
production costs. Due to the low per capita area of forest land 
in China, there is less forest land to cut down and therefore, 
the state is protecting forest wood more severely, thus 
increasing production costs[14] . According to statistics from 
the National Bureau of Statistics, China will only produce 
87.27 million cubic metres of timber for the year to 2020, a 
drop of 13.1% relative to 2019. As a result, the lack of wood 
has led to an increase in the price of wood, which has 
increased the cost of producing wooden furniture products for 
Chinese wooden furniture companies that use imported wood 
as their raw material. 

And Chinese wooden furniture is a labour-intensive 
product due to its low labour cost and has a strong competitive 
edge in the world[15] . Following the implementation of 
forest certification in the EU, in recent years, with the import 
of wood, especially in developed countries such as Europe 
and the US, import barriers to wooden furniture and the 
growing awareness of environmental protection have put 
China's wooden furniture export trade under increasing 
pressure. At the same time, furniture companies 
manufacturing wooden furniture as an intensive product will 
reduce the production quality of wooden furniture products 
due to rising production costs, thus leading to a reduction in 
the added value of Chinese wooden furniture products. 

5. Measures to Promote China's 
Wooden Furniture Exports 

Based on the above-mentioned problems in the current 
status of China's wooden furniture exports and the analysis of 
the causes of these problems, this paper puts forward 
countermeasures and suggestions to promote China's wooden 
furniture exports. 

5.1. Optimize market structure and actively 
respond to trade barriers 

Chinese wooden furniture enterprises should address the 
existing problems and put forward countermeasures and 



 

63 

suggestions to promote the export of Chinese wooden 
furniture in order to improve the current situation of Chinese 
wooden furniture exports. Firstly, Chinese wooden furniture 
enterprises should explore other potential markets for wooden 
furniture, change the current status quo of over-concentrated 
export markets and actively develop new markets on the basis 
of maintaining the existing good export markets. Chinese 
wooden furniture enterprises should learn a lesson, follow the 
changes in the trade pattern, actively adjust the structure of 
the export market, achieve diversification of the export 
market structure, adjust market share to avoid increasing the 
risk of China's wooden furniture export trade due to economic 
changes in certain countries[16] . Chinese wooden furniture 
enterprises should also make full use of their own 
geographical advantages, strengthen cooperation with 
neighbouring countries, take advantage of the advantages 
with neighbouring countries, continuously optimise the 
market structure and promote the development of new 
markets for Chinese wooden furniture enterprises. 

At the same time, Chinese wooden furniture exports to 
overseas, especially to European countries, should comply 
with the European forest certification system through the 
European forest certification system, strengthen international 
cooperation, reduce trade friction caused by differences in the 
European forest certification system, and thus reduce 
certification costs. China should actively explore foreign 
certification systems, especially with European forest 
certification systems, in order to reduce the resistance of 
Chinese wooden furniture to enter environmentally sensitive 
countries, enhance the international competitiveness of 
Chinese wooden products, and prepare Chinese certified 
wooden products for the world. Therefore, the Chinese 
government should further strengthen international 
cooperation, especially with the EU countries, to make forest 
certification an important international cooperation and to 
organically integrate forest certification with world forest 
management efforts in order to promote the international 
isation of Chinese wood products and to ensure the export of 
Chinese wood furniture[17] . In addition, the government 
should adjust its trade policy to circumvent trade barriers and 
reduce the impact of TBT and PTM on the export of Chinese 
wooden furniture. 

5.2. To actively face the test of international 
market and enhance the international 
competitiveness of enterprises 

While optimising the market structure and actively 
responding to trade barriers, Chinese wooden furniture 
enterprises also have to deal with the rise of emerging 
countries, led by Vietnam, to bring competitive pressure on 
China's wooden furniture export trade, so Chinese wooden 
furniture enterprises should actively respond to the challenges 
and enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese 
wooden furniture. Firstly, we should change the status quo of 
relying on the United States and other export target markets, 
which are too concentrated in the export market structure, and 
gradually develop emerging markets, expand the range of 
export markets, and actively develop exchanges and 
cooperation with emerging countries. Secondly, we should 
actively and positively communicate with these emerging 
countries, led by Vietnam, to make full use of the advantage 
that the target markets of the countries are similar but the 
product similarity is low, to take their strengths and make up 
for their weaknesses, so as to promote the upgrading of 

China's wooden furniture industry structure. 

5.3. Reducing export costs and creating high 
quality products 

And because of the increasing production costs and the 
decreasing added value of products, Chinese wooden 
furniture enterprises must make full use of their existing funds 
to occupy a favourable position, increase investment in 
technological research and development, learn from advanced 
production technologies at home and abroad, strengthen 
exchanges and learning with other enterprises, constantly 
innovate and upgrade their products, and improve their own 
products. At the same time, Chinese wooden furniture 
enterprises should do a good job of improving and upgrading 
all steps of production, improving from raw materials and 
other aspects, strengthening the management of procurement, 
production, sales and other aspects to further reduce export 
costs. Secondly, Chinese wooden furniture enterprises should 
pay attention to product quality and produce in strict 
accordance with wooden furniture product quality standards 
to create high-quality wooden furniture products. To 
standardise the wooden furniture standard system, absorb the 
excellent and advanced production standards from abroad and 
build a sound standard system. Again, the quality of wooden 
furniture products should be constantly optimised, the 
technical content of the products should be increased, the 
transformation and upgrading of the wooden furniture 
industry should be promoted, and high value-added wooden 
furniture products should be created. And, we should 
purposefully introduce technical talents, increase innovation, 
change the original labour-intensive, low-quality, low-price 
disadvantage, and enhance international competitiveness[18] . 

6. Concluding Remarks 
As the economy continues to grow, Chinese wooden 

furniture companies are also developing rapidly. China is the 
world's largest producer of wooden furniture, which plays an 
important role in the country's economic development and 
plays a huge role in stabilising people's livelihoods and 
meeting their growing needs. This paper examines China's 
export trade in wooden furniture and draws the following 
conclusions:  

(1) On the whole, China's wooden furniture industry is 
labour-intensive and the domestic production areas of 
Chinese wooden furniture are concentrated in Eastern China 
and Northeast China. Along with the steady growth of China's 
macro economy, China's wooden furniture industry has also 
grown steadily. However, at the same time, China's wooden 
furniture exports are very low and the scale of exports 
fluctuates significantly. China's wooden furniture export 
market is too aggregated and the export market is too 
dependent on countries and regions such as the United States, 
which largely affects China's wooden furniture export trade 
and greatly increases the risk of wooden furniture exports. 

(2) In addition, Chinese wooden furniture enterprises are 
facing green trade barriers in the European Union, while 
emerging countries, led by Vietnam, continue to seize the 
international market share, the pressure of competition in 
China's wooden furniture export trade has intensified. Due to 
the suppression of raw material suppliers and various barriers, 
the production cost of Chinese wooden furniture products is 
getting higher and higher, coupled with the weak brand 
awareness of Chinese wooden furniture enterprises and the 



 

64 

low quality and low added value of Chinese wooden furniture 
products, it is difficult for Chinese wooden furniture 
enterprises to "go global". 

(3) In view of the above problems, this study suggests that 
Chinese wooden furniture enterprises should actively respond 
to the EU's green trade barriers, strengthen the environmental 
awareness of Chinese wooden furniture enterprises and try to 
meet the EU's green standards; actively accept the challenges 
from the international market and continuously improve 
international competitiveness; continuously optimise the 
market structure and adjust the product structure, keep up 
with the international situation, and actively adjust the market 
structure while maintaining the original market In the case of 
maintaining the original market advantages, actively adjust 
the market structure, expand the potential market, the 
implementation of diversified market structure, in the 
adoption of product differentiation strategy at the same time, 
the use of their own advantages, optimize the product 
structure, so that Chinese wooden furniture products "go out". 
Moreover, Chinese wooden furniture enterprises should 
reduce export costs in all aspects, pay close attention to 
product quality and create high-quality, high value-added 
wooden furniture products. 

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