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Industry News27 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Furniture spending is up. UK factory sales are flat. Imports fill the gap.

FIRA's Q3 2026 Statistics Digest puts UK spending on furniture and furnishings at £20.15 billion in 2025, up 3.2 percent, while UK manufacturers' sales held at £7.34 billion and the trade deficit reached £7.05 billion.

Published by The Furniture Magazine

In brief

  • UK consumer spending on furniture and furnishings rose 3.2 percent to £20.15 billion in 2025, reversing two years of decline.
  • UK manufacturers' sales were flat at £7.34 billion.
  • Imports reached £10.45 billion against exports of £3.4 billion, a deficit of £7.05 billion.
  • Furniture manufacturing employed 72,000 people, 17,000 fewer than in 2021.

FIRA has published a free summary of its Q3 2026 Statistics Digest, covering the UK furniture market from 2020 to 2025. The headline is a split: people spent more on furniture last year, but the extra spending did not reach UK factories.

£20.15bn

UK consumer spending on furniture and furnishings in 2025, up 3.2 percent.

Source: FIRA Statistics Digest, Q3 2026

£7.34bn

UK furniture manufacturers' sales in 2025, flat on the year.

Source: FIRA Statistics Digest, Q3 2026

Where the money went

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Imports reached £10.45 billion and exports £3.4 billion, leaving a trade deficit of £7.05 billion. China supplied 40 percent of UK furniture imports, and imports from Vietnam rose 16.2 percent, the fastest of any major source.

Inside the market

  • Kitchen furniture grew 5 percent to £2.44 billion.
  • Mattress sales fell 4.4 percent to £798 million, their lowest level in five years.
  • There are 6,600 UK furniture manufacturers.

72,000

people employed in UK furniture manufacturing, 17,000 fewer than in 2021.

Source: FIRA Statistics Digest, Q3 2026

The full Digest costs £600 per edition to non-members; the summary edition is free.

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