KUCHING: Malaysia was the third biggest supplier of wooden furniture parts (HS940391) to Japan, which imported RM88.23 million worth of the products in January 2023.
Japan paid about RM8.7 million to ship wooden furniture components from Malaysia or nearly 10 per cent of the country’s import value during the month under review.
China and Indonesia were the other top suppliers, which accounted for 51 per cent and 14 per cent respectively of Japan’s import bill in January this year, according to Japan Finance Ministry’s data quoted by International Tropical Timber Organisation Tropical Timber Market Report (March 16-31, 2023).
“There was a 22 per cent increase in the value of HS940391 in January as compared to a month earlier and this marked the second monthly increase. Year-onyear, January 2023 imports were 14 per cent up over January 2022,” said the report.
In January 2023, the data showed that the top 10 sources accounted for over 90 per cent of all arrivals of wooden furniture parts in Japan, and the main suppliers were in Asia ,with most of the balance coming from suppliers in Europe. Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, United Kingdom and Italy were the other main suppliers. Japan sourced the furniture components from 30 countries.
For kitchen furniture (HS940340), Malaysia was a small supplier among 13 source countries to Japan in January 2023, with import value of RM52.2 million.
“Around 75 per cent of the total value of wooden kitchen furniture imported by Japan in January this year was from just two sources, the Philippines (42 per cent) and Vietnam (33 per cent),” according to the ministry’s data.
Shipments from the Philippines and Vietnam were worth RM22 million and RM17.4 million respectively. Other suppliers in the top group were China and Italy; each accounting for around seven per cent of all wooden kitchen furniture. Malaysia’s exports to Japan for the month were valued at merely RM601,494.
“The value of wooden kitchen furniture imports in January 2023 was 6 per cent up on January 2022 and compared to December 2022, there was a 7 per cent increase.” The ITTO report said manufacturers in China were the top supplier of wooden office furniture (HS940330) to Japan, and they accounted for 91 per cent of the value of all imports of the country in January 2023 worth RM10.7 million.
Italy, Vietnam and Indonesia were the other main sources of Japan’s imports for the month. Year-on-year, January 2023 imports were little changed but compared to that in December 2022, imports value climbed seven per cent in January 2023. Malaysia was also among 13 source suppliers of wooden bedroom furniture (HS940350) to Japan in January 2023, which paid RM104.4 million for total imports.
January’s imports jumped nearly 18 per cent from December 2022, breaking a period of three months when imports remained flat. Year-on-year, import value climbed by 11 per cent from January 2022.
Shipments from China and Vietnam dominated January imports, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total value of imports.
Shipments from both these sources were up on December value, and exporters from China and Vietnam benefitted from the rise in Japan’s imports at the expense of other shippers, said the ITTO report.
Meanwhile, the ITTO report said Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has made a final and definite anti-dumping ruling on tables, chairs and accessories from China by imposing antidumping duty of 21.4 per cent on chairs and 35.2 per cent on tables and accessories, effective Feb 13, 2023.
