Lumber price declines have begun to stabilize, but we continue to anticipate that lumber markets will remain slow with prices under downward pressure until fall 2015. Only high end housing and vacation homes are robust.
Ethan Allen Furniture reported 2nd quarter net sales of $197.1 million, up 2.1%. Net sales of $387.8 for the first half fiscal 2015 increased 3.5%. But net income for the most recent quarter fell about 10 percent to $10 million.
Ashley Furniture cuts wood manufacturing costs relentlessly, even producing its own cutting tools, as it aggressively pursues retail sales in China, adapting designs to meet the growing middle class there. Ashley says it plans on 1,000 stores in Asia.
Mobile and online retail sales, including those of nontraditional items such as furniture, are predicted to exceed $1 trillion, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc.
A slowdown in the Chinese economy impacted the construction sector in early 2014 resulting in a decline in lumber import volumes by 16% in the 1Q/14 as compared to the previous quarter.
Lumber imports to China picked up 19 percent during the second quarter after the construction market picked up some steam. But third quarter is expected to contract.