Since 1993, Turkel Fair Organization Inc., has been organizing trade fairs on a wide spectrum across the four continents, including such countries as Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic Republics, Poland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Denmark, Spain, Latvia, Romania, Tunis, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Ghana, Sudan, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, Canada, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Tatarstan.

Turkel organizes around thirty trade fairs each year and the biggest in its class international exhibition of fur- and leatherwear “LeShow”, which is annually staged in Moscow, is a kind of the company’s business card. Read more »

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c47688) has announced the addition of World Furniture Outlook 2007: With Furniture Indicators for 60 Countries to their offering.

There is an increasing degree of openness in the furniture sector world-wide. The growth in world furniture trade has two determinants: the increasing openness of the markets and the growth in world consumption, which has also affected the developing countries since the mid-80′s, with the emergence of hundreds of millions of consumers with levels of spending similar to western ones. Developing countries are therefore potential customers for middle and upper-middle range furniture produced in industrial countries. Read more »

ST. PETERSBURG – Vepsalainen, the largest design furniture store chain in Finland, opened its first Russian store late last week and presented plans to give Swedish rival IKEA some competition by opening nine more over the next two years.

The St. Petersburg store, Design House Vepsalainen, covers 2,050 square meters and cost about 500,000 euros ($625,000), the company said.

Unlike IKEA, which sells furniture components that customers can assemble themselves, Vepsalainen is a distributor of European design furniture and follows the “shop in shop” model, offering several brands in the same store.

Timo Vepsalainen, owner of the Finnish company, said he was counting on high demand for high-quality furniture from Russians.

“The preferences of Russians differ to some extent from those of Scandinavians. However, when it comes to high-quality products, then design expressing a clear language of forms is in high demand among Russians. That is exactly what we offer,” he said in a statement. Read more »

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “World Furniture Outlook 2006-2007″ to their offering.

There is an increasing degree of openness in the furniture sector world-wide. The growth in world furniture trade has two determinants: the increasing openness of the markets and the growth in world consumption, which has also affected the developing countries since the mid-80′s, with the emergence of hundreds of millions of consumers with levels of spending similar to western ones. Developing countries are therefore potential customers for middle and upper-middle range furniture produced in industrial countries.

This report provides an overview of the world furniture industry with basic data (production, consumption, imports, exports) and scenario 2006/2007 for 60 furniture markets. The growth of furniture imports and the role of furniture exporting countries in the world marketplace are also considered. Prospects of world furniture trade in 2006/2007 and forecasts on the evolution of furniture markets in the 60 countries (selected according to their contribution to production and international trade of furniture) are based on the analysis of furniture industry dynamics and of macro-economic indicators. Read more »

ITECA Caspian LTD, the exclusive partner of ITE Group- the leading organizer of the internaitonal trade exhibitions and conferences in the South Caucasus will open the 4th International Furniture and Woodworking, Interiors and Design Exhibition ‘BakuMebel 2006’, October 11-14 in Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex.

The event expects more than 10,000 visitors from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran and Europe. The main sectors of the exhibition are different types of furniture, blinds, tulle, wallpapers, phytoproducts, tapestry, lamps, mirrors, glassware, lacquers, paints and glues, upholstery fabrics etc.

The billion-dollar plans of a multinational furniture retailer intent on expanding its presence in Ukraine continue to be delayed – ostensibly over the fate of some of the capital’s trees.

Giant IKEA, a Dutch-registered conglomerate with Swedish roots, has been trying for over two years to acquire land on Kyiv’s left bank, where it wants to put up to $400 million into the construction of a shopping mall. However, the city administration says it’s under pressure from environmentalists committed to protecting a wooded site on the edge of the city.

Senior advisor for IKEA investments in Ukraine Swen Holm met with members of the Kyiv city administration on June 21 to discuss a way out of the deadlock. Read more »

Three London auction houses are offering 19th- and 20th-century Russian art worth as much as $51 million this week, a month after New York sales broke records.

The sales of paintings, sculptures, icons, porcelain, arms and Faberge works open today at MacDougall Arts Ltd. with an auction the company estimates may fetch 5 million pounds ($9.4 million). Sotheby’s Holdings Inc. says its sale tomorrow may reap 20 million pounds. Bonhams, which ends the auctions on June 1, expects about 2.5 million pounds.

Sotheby’s New York office sold $46.7 million worth of art on April 26, the most profitable Russian sale in history. The flow of art from private European and U.S. collections to a growing class of wealthy Russians may accelerate, dealers say.

“The high prices are bringing out paintings that even someone like myself, who has been in the Russian paintings business longer than anyone, had no idea existed,” said Ivan Samarine, a founder of Sotheby’s Russian department and now head of Russian sales at Stockholms Auktionsverket. Read more »

Data from the Incoma Research company and the Moderni obchod magazine showed Ikea CR was the leader in the segment with sales up from CZK 2.68 billion to CZK 4.5 billion in 2005.

Growing competition on the market forces shops to cut furniture prices.

“We cut prices by 5.5 percent in 2004 and by 7 percent in 2005. For the fiscal year 2006 we have reduced prices by 10 percent,” Ikea spokeswoman Katerina Horova told CTK.

On the other hand, shops selling expensive furniture have found a place on the Czech market too. Wagner Design sold several dozen beds that cost CZK 200,000-300,000 in 2005.

“We want to sell more than 1,000 beds a year in the years to come,” said Karel Vagner from the company. Read more »

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c33958) has announced the addition of The Furniture Industry in the European Union (Volume II): EU Enlargement Countries + Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine to their offering.

This report offers a comprehensive picture of the furniture sector in Central and Eastern Europe, providing trends in furniture production, furniture consumption, furniture imports and exports in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Factors determining the demand for furniture are examined, as well as furniture distribution channels and furniture prices.

For each country the furniture supply structure is analysed, with data on furniture companies and employment. Profiles of the main furniture manufacturers and distributors, with turnover, production facilities, employees, exports and product mix, are provided. Read more »