The Turkish furniture sector, which brought Türkiye 4.7 billion dollars in foreign currency earnings in 2025, will organize a Furniture Sectoral Trade Delegation to the United Kingdom between October 5 and 9, 2026, in line with its value-added export targets.
Applications for the delegation program, organized by the Aegean Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association, EMKOÜİB, with the aim of establishing new commercial connections in the UK market, will end on June 29, 2026.
The United Kingdom Imports 20 Billion Dollars’ Worth of Furniture Products Annually
Ali Fuat Gürle, Chairman of the Aegean Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association, underlined that the United Kingdom is one of Europe’s largest furniture markets, with annual furniture imports exceeding 20 billion dollars. Gürle stated that they aim to increase the share of the Turkish furniture sector in the UK market.
Emphasizing that Türkiye exported 157 million dollars’ worth of furniture products to the United Kingdom in 2025, Gürle said, “China, Poland, Italy, Germany and Vietnam are among the leading suppliers in the United Kingdom’s furniture imports. As the Turkish furniture sector, we want to strengthen our position in this market and reach an export volume of 250 million dollars. British consumers show strong demand for upholstered furniture, seating groups, bedroom and dining room furniture, office furniture, garden furniture and design-oriented products manufactured with sustainable materials.”
“Our Target Is Not Growth by Kilogram, but Growth by Value”
Chairman Ali Fuat Gürle emphasized that the Turkish furniture sector is now pursuing a growth strategy based on added value rather than quantity and stated that they are focusing on the UK market in line with this target.
Underlining that they are focusing on markets with high purchasing power in order to increase exports of value-added products, Gürle said, “The Turkish furniture sector is among the world’s important suppliers with its production strength, design capability and understanding of quality manufacturing. However, our main target in the coming period is to increase the unit value of the products we export. Today, the average export unit price of our sector is around 3.5 dollars. Through design, R&D, branding and activities targeting markets that appeal to high-income groups, we aim to raise this figure to 6 dollars in the medium term. The United Kingdom offers major opportunities for our sector with its consumer structure that has high purchasing power, demand for design-oriented products and strong retail network. We want to introduce the quality, design and fast delivery advantages of our Turkish companies to British buyers more effectively. We believe that the bilateral business meetings to be held within the scope of our delegation program will bring new collaborations to our companies.”
Güngör: “We Are Focusing on High-Income Markets”
Hikmet Güngör, Vice Chairman of the Aegean Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association, stated that the importance of value-added exports is increasing day by day in the global competitive environment.
Pointing out that “the path to sustainable growth in the furniture sector lies in design, innovation and branding,” Güngör said, “British consumers’ interest in products that offer quality, functionality and sustainability together is increasing every day. The Turkish furniture sector has the production infrastructure and design capability to respond to these demands. We continue our international marketing activities without interruption. Over the past four years, we have organized sectoral trade delegations to South Africa, Morocco, India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Romania and Bulgaria. We facilitated meetings between 139 of our companies and importers. For the 2026-2030 period, we have decided to include fair participations in our trade delegations. In order to increase the visibility of our companies in global markets, we organized the Türkiye National Participation Organization at HD Expo Conference 2026, held in the United States on May 5-7, 2026, and took part with 10 companies. The contacts we established at HD Expo, one of the world’s most important organizations especially for hotel, hospitality and project furniture, enabled us to see the opportunities in the US market more closely. We also see our United Kingdom Sectoral Trade Delegation as part of our strategy to increase the effectiveness of Turkish furniture in high value-added markets with strong purchasing power. We aim for our companies to establish permanent commercial relations in the United Kingdom and increase their market share with higher value-added products.”
Architects and Interior Architects Targeted with the Turkish Contract Hub Project
Stating that the Turkish furniture sector has difficulty achieving target prices in exports due to market conditions and regional developments, Güngör said, “We observe that companies capable of working on projects have increased their share in exports, as they can create a difference in all elements such as quality, supply times and process management against countries like China, with which it is almost impossible to compete globally in mass production. With the Turkish Contract Hub brand, we will focus more on these companies. Our companies working on project-based areas such as hotels, hospitals, offices, schools and restaurants achieve more efficient results when they work with architects and interior architects. During the London delegation, we will invite architects in London to our bilateral meetings. We used the Turkish Contract Hub brand for the first time at HD Expo Conference 2026. In the next period, we will continue to include it in all our events, delegation programs and national participation organizations.”
Applications Will End on June 29
Companies wishing to participate in the United Kingdom Furniture Sectoral Trade Delegation, which will be held between October 5 and 9, 2026, must complete their applications by June 29, 2026. For detailed information about the organization and questions regarding the application process, companies can contact the Aegean Furniture, Paper and Forest Products Exporters’ Association via tarim4@eib.org.tr.