UK furniture prices to rise as war in Ukraine drives up cost of timber

theguardian.com:

Shoppers are being warned that the cost of a new sofa and other furniture is to race higher as the Russia-Ukraine war pushes up the cost of key materials such as timber.

“We have never seen anything like this in terms of across-the-board price increases for materials,” said Sean Holt, the managing director of the British Furniture Manufacturers, the industry’s trade body. “It is putting a lot of pressure on manufacturing in the UK and that will have to be shared with retailers and consumers.”

Higher furniture prices are already feeding into higher living costs in the UK. Inflation is running at 7%, the highest level in three decades, with furniture prices up 17%. The invasion of Ukraine is heaping more pressure on British furniture makers who had been sourcing timber from Russia.

“We’ve seen a pattern of material increases over the last two years but the situation has escalated significantly in recent weeks,” Holt said. “Compound price hikes of up to 100% are not unusual, and this is on top of the energy cost increases affecting manufacturing. Fuel and labour costs are other factors. Our members are saying there will be further price hikes over the next few months.”

At the end of last year, Ikea, the UK’s biggest furniture retailer, said it was putting up prices as it struggled to absorb a significant increase in costs, including for raw materials, transport and logistics, because of the upheaval caused by Covid-19.

UK furniture manufacturing, which is focused on sofas, chairs and tables, is worth almost £13bn a year to the economy. However, a wide range of materials including hard woods such as birch, beech and oak, along with fabrics, foam, fibre, steel and MDF, were increasing in price, according to the BMF.

Ian Oscroft,