Recession to blame for low wood sales
Chinese flooring imports may not be to blame for the huge impact that the recession has had on the solid wood flooring market.
Although the recession was expected to hit the flooring sector as hard as anywhere else there has been a noticeably large drop specifically within the wooden flooring market.
Many people are blaming cheap Chinese imports, certainly in the United States where huge controversy over imported floors has already resulted in legal action.
However Neil Smith, flooring director at IDS, told CFJ: “I do not share this view. Fact is that demand has dried up across the board from consumers to housebuilders, as well as the refurbishment market, so it doesn’t matter where the products come from.”
Mr Smith also refers to the quality of the Chinese floors which are being imported and blames the ‘silly’ prices for giving the floor a bad reputation for being low quality.
Chinese flooring is also more prevalent than many consumers realise as manufacturers from the west often source wood floors from Asia and ship them in to their factories and warehouses.
The solid wood flooring market has dropped since its high in 2007, largely because of the global recession which has taken a toll on the flooring market.
