UK furnishings costs to rise as struggle in Ukraine drives up price of timber | Manufacturing sector

Customers are being warned that the price of a brand new couch and different furnishings is to race greater because the Russia-Ukraine struggle pushes up the price of key supplies comparable to timber.

“We have now by no means seen something like this when it comes to across-the-board value will increase for supplies,” mentioned Sean Holt, the managing director of the British Furnishings Producers (BFM), the trade’s commerce physique. “It’s placing a variety of strain on manufacturing within the UK and that must be shared with retailers and customers.”

Greater furnishings costs are already feeding into greater residing prices within the UK. Inflation is operating at 7%, the very best stage in three many years, with furnishings costs up 17%. The invasion of Ukraine is heaping extra strain on British furnishings makers who had been sourcing timber from Russia.

“We’ve seen a sample of fabric will increase over the past two years, however the state of affairs has escalated considerably in latest weeks,” Holt mentioned. “Compound value hikes of as much as 100% should not uncommon, and that is on prime of the vitality price will increase affecting manufacturing. Gasoline and labour prices are different components. Our members are saying there might be additional value hikes over the subsequent few months.”

On the finish of final yr, Ikea, the UK’s largest furnishings retailer, mentioned it was placing up costs because it struggled to soak up a big improve in prices – together with for uncooked supplies, transport and logistics – due to the upheaval attributable to Covid-19.

UK furnishings manufacturing, which is targeted on sofas, chairs and tables, is price nearly £13bn a yr to the economic system. Nevertheless, a variety of supplies together with laborious woods comparable to birch, beech and oak, together with materials, foam, fibre, metal and MDF, had been growing in value, in response to the BFM.

Ian Oscroft, the managing director of the Nottinghamshire furnishings maker Whitemeadow, mentioned it now price 25% extra to make one among its sofas than earlier than Brexit. “Throughout the two years of Covid the furnishings trade has seen fairly extreme uncooked materials prices and we thought that was over as we obtained into the brand new yr, however the battle in Ukraine has exacerbated it even additional. Timber is a key uncooked materials and a variety of it comes out of jap European forests, significantly birch and beech.”

The Forest Stewardship Council has suspended all buying and selling certificates in Russia and Belarus, blocking all managed sourcing from the 2 international locations, however the knock-on impact has been greater costs as companies scrabble to seek out options.

“The Forest Stewardship Council has put a ban on imports out of Russia, and rightly so, however what that’s finished is put strain on different international locations who provide timber and, in fact, that has made the value of timber rocket,” mentioned Oscroft, who added that his agency needed to pay nearly 1 / 4 extra for birch wooden in April than the earlier month.

“All of us attempt to swallow a few of it,” he mentioned. “I’ve not been in a position to go a 25% improve to all my clients, however I’ve needed to go a few of it on.

“Equally, retailers have needed to go a few of that on, too. We will’t take the entire ache as a result of if we did that we most likely wouldn’t be right here any extra.”