DRI-WEFA, a forecasting service for BIFMA, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Organization, predicts a decline in office furniture shipments of 4.4% to $12.7 billion in 2001, with a modest increase of 1.8% to $12.9 billion in 2002. Weaker corporate profits, moderating office construction, and slower employment growth will all contribute to the decline in 2001. 2002 shipments will be boosted by an anticipated recovery in both corporate profits and service-sector employment, but restrained by new construction spending.
Office furniture shipments declined by just over 1% during the first quarter of 2001 as compared to the first quarter of 2000, as the industry worked off an accumulated order backlog. Incoming orders declined by nearly 9% during the same period. The outlook for orders and shipments has deteriorated from last quarter’s forecast for two primary reasons: a change in the shape of DRI-WEFA’s macroeconomic outlook from a “V” to a “U”-shaped slowdown; and a reduction in the expectation for profits recovery later this year and into 2002.
Based on a report from BIFMA
