'BIZNES meble.pl' international edition 1/2019

15 years of success Photo by Tomasz Markowski H owever, it is worth recalling that before May 1, 2004, Polish pro- ducers were not only anonymous furniture suppliers – many of them exported a significant part of their production to the EU markets, and the modernization of the machinery was already being done or had started. As a result of these investments, often with the use of EU funds, the Polish furniture industry currently is one of the most technologically advanced one. However, it was the abolition of custom controls and a common economic area that help Polish furniture producers to conduct their business in the West. It also helped to convince new, hesitating up to the moment, economic partners from the EU to choose Polish furniture suppliers. It was successful, also because in the years preceding Poland’s accession to the EU, Polish furniture manufacturers met the quality requirements of European consumers, dynamically developed economic links, and the entry into the Union was only to formally confirm the belonging of Polish furniture to the common European economic area. At the time of entry to the European Union, sold production of the Polish furniture industry was at the level of 15.4 billion PLN annually. 15 years have passed and this production has reached a record value of over 49 billion PLN. Exports increased even more, thanks to which Poland is now third in the list of the world’s largest exporters of furniture – after China and Germany – with a real chance for the second place. Furniture industry, not only in Poland, faces the spectre of slowdown. Since mid- 2016, financial indexes have been dropping and profitability has also been decreasing. As a country, we recorded a decent dynamics of growth in 2018, despite the fact that in the third quarter export fell slightly. Probably also 2019 will be a year of growth, although it will be not as impressive as a few years ago. However, history shows that the Polish furniture industry came out stronger from every crisis, so I hope that this time there will be plenty of courage and ingenuity in overcoming problems for Polish furniture producers. d Marek Hryniewicki editor in chief May 1 this year was the 15 years anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union. This is a breakthrough date for Poland, but also for Polish furniture industry which has since recorded rapid development. 4 biznes meble.pl ❘ international edition 1/2019