Do We Really Need This Much Furniture? CIFF in Guangzhou Shows Who Controls the Global Market

Marcin Szczelina

 

850,000 square meters, over 4,700 exhibitors, endless halls filled with furniture—CIFF in Guangzhou is the world’s largest furniture fair and the perfect place to observe where the global market is heading. China is no longer just the world’s factory. Today, it sets trends, creates its own designs, and aggressively enters European and American markets. At the same time, a paradox unfolds: on one hand, we witness overproduction; on the other, sustainability is becoming the industry’s new mantra. So, what does this shift really mean?

 

 

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 55th edition of the China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) in Guangzhou. This event never fails to overwhelm with its sheer scale. I have attended many trade fairs around the world, I visit them regularly, but here in China, everything operates on a completely different level. 850,000 square meters, thousands of exhibitors, hundreds of thousands of products. The exhibition space alone exceeds one square kilometer, making walking through it almost surreal. Of course, one might think this is an excellent place for someone who enjoys long walks and wants to meet their daily step goal without a fitness app. Just strolling through a few halls gives you the feeling of being at the heart of an unprecedented spectacle of consumption. With each edition of CIFF, I find myself confronting the same question: do we really need this much furniture? Can our planet sustain millions more sofas, chairs, tables, and shelves that we are producing in unimaginable quantities? And this is only Asia. What would this picture look like if we summed up production worldwide?

 

There is no illusion. Production will not slow down; it races forward and will continue to do so, and we are not standing in its way—we are part of the machine. I no longer ask myself whether this can be stopped. The answer is obvious: it cannot. The key question is how to produce more responsibly. How to minimize environmental impact, how to think about the future of raw materials, how to ensure that the things we create have a longer lifecycle? I believe in regulations, but they are still too weak and ineffective, especially when looking at production on a global scale. This makes what is happening in China now even more interesting. Walking through the CIFF exhibition, it is clear that China’s furniture industry is undergoing a transformation. Gone are the days of mass-produced, low-quality goods driven purely by quantity. Instead, I keep hearing exhibitors talk about ecological materials, processes that minimize raw material use, recycling, and certifications. The future is sustainable—at least on the level of declarations.

 

 

What surprises me even more is the changing image of the fair itself. A few years ago, CIFF looked like a giant wholesale market with uneven quality products. Today, the halls rival those of Fiera Milano. The scenography, the way products are presented, and the attention to detail have reached a level that makes them almost indistinguishable from what we see at Europe’s leading design fairs. And it’s not just about booth decoration. Chinese brands are increasingly showcasing projects that can confidently compete with major European players. These are not mere copies but original approaches, new ideas, and bold experiments with materials. This is no accident but the result of a long-term strategy.

 

 

China has long held its position as the undisputed leader in furniture production, with an annual output exceeding $200 billion. Its exports are rising rapidly, particularly to Europe, where there has been a 47% increase. Interestingly, this includes not only finished products but also semi-finished goods and materials that European factories use to manufacture their final products. This means that China’s actual dominance is even greater than official statistics suggest. In Europe, the biggest furniture markets are Germany ($23 billion), the UK ($16 billion), France ($13 billion), and Italy ($12.5 billion). Over 80% of the EU’s furniture demand is met by products manufactured within its borders, but China remains the largest external supplier.

 

At the same time, major shifts are occurring in the U.S. market. The United States, the world’s largest furniture consumer ($93 billion annually), is gradually moving away from Chinese imports. Tariff restrictions have caused China to lose 33% of its share in the U.S. market, while Vietnam has gained 80% and Mexico 68%. This indicates a transformation in the global power structure—some markets are beginning to distance themselves from China, but this does not mean its dominance is weakening. On the contrary, Chinese companies are adapting quickly, investing in new export markets, and developing their own brands, which are increasingly appearing in Western markets, not as cheap alternatives, but as direct competitors to European and American firms.

 

It is also worth asking—where is Poland in all of this? Interestingly, Poland is now among the world’s top ten largest furniture producers, playing a crucial role in the European market. We remain a key supplier for Germany and France, but our global position is vulnerable. Competition from Asia is intensifying, and the question remains whether Poland is fully capitalizing on its potential. Our strength lies in quality, but are we investing enough in developing our own brands, or are we merely a production hub for Western companies? Observing what is happening at CIFF, the answer seems increasingly clear—if we do not accelerate, we will be left behind.

 

 

Anyone who still believes that China is just a massive factory producing cheap furniture simply hasn’t been paying attention. This machine no longer just manufactures—it thinks, designs, and sets the direction. We may delude ourselves into thinking that massive overproduction will somehow regulate itself, but that is naive. The question is no longer whether to limit production—it won’t happen. The real question is how to make it smarter. How to ensure that design is not just another wave of consumption but a tool for change? Chinese companies are already starting to understand this. And what about us? If we do not start taking this seriously, we will wake up in a world where someone else decides what our furniture, our interiors, and—more worryingly—our future will look like.