HIGH POINT, N.C. - Casegoods and office furniture maker High Point Furniture Industries (HFPI) will increase the prices of all of its products by 6 percent beginning May 1.
"As our economy recovers, we are faced with several other unexpected challenges in our supply chain," the company wrote in a letter to its customers. "The worldwide demand has increased exponentially for many raw materials affecting most wood and steel products. Weather events have also created serious shortages in petroleum-based products."
"Steel costs have risen 25 percent, wood products are up 12-15 percent, foam has increased 40 percent, and if that's not enough, transportation costs are up over 25 percent," the letter reads.
"We are doing everything we can at HPFi to control costs and mange resources efficiently. Most importantly, we are firmly committed to delivering the same level of high quality, well priced product that you have come to rely on."
The shortage comes at an unfortunate time for HFPI and other furniture makers - many of whom have been seeing a sharp increase in demand. Residential furniture orders saw a 27 percent rise in December 2020 from the same month in 2019, and a 15 percent increase for entire year of 2020 over 2019.
The shortage began early March.
The two chemicals used in foam production are primarily produced at plants in Texas and Louisiana. Many of these facilities were forced offline by the deep freeze that slammed the region late February.
It has forced cutbacks for many furniture makers, including Craftmaster, Century Furniture, and Mississipp-based Affordable Furniture. Wesley Hall opted to shut down production for a week. Wesley believes the shortage will ease in three weeks.
Industrial chemical maker EverChem explains the shortage in detail in a blog post: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/foam-…;
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