According to ITTO, the cyclical trend in bedroom furniture imports has once again been repeated in 2017. After peaking in the spring, Japan’s imports of wooden bedroom furniture traditionally drop back in the months to year end only to pick up once again.
While the trend in bedroom furniture imports is following a familiar pattern this is not the case with wooded kitchen furniture. After moving within a narrow range for the past 2-3 years in the second half of 2017 imports of wooden kitchen furniture have surged. This could be partly the result of the flood of cash into buy-to-rent properties in Japan, a tactic used to minimise inheritance taxes by the wealthy.
