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France increases imports of furniture
Among
Western European countries (EU-15 plus Switzerland and Norway), France
is the fourth office furniture consumer with a share of 12% of total
European office furniture demand. Office furniture accounts for
roughly 11% of total production in the furniture sector in France.
After the slowdown in the economy in recent years and despite a slight
drop in furniture output value, the French market seems to be
stabilizing. In 2004, apparent domestic consumption of office
furniture (production plus imports minus exports) in France amounted
to €893 million, down 1.8% from 2003 at constant prices. In 2004, the
French market for office furniture showed an increasing degree of
openness to foreign trade. Both the export/production and the
import/consumption ratios rose, reaching 20.4% and 33%, respectively,
up from 18% and 29.9%in 2003. These ratios continued to grow in 2005.
According
to official statistics, there are over 600 firms in France producing
furniture and furnishing for offices and shops (excluding seating)
that employed a workforce of around 14,000 people. Firms producing
office furniture account for roughly 3.7% of the 17,000 firms active
in the furniture sector in France, which employ a total of 82,000
workers.
Report from the UK
House
prices rise in tandem with economic growth
BDO Stoy
Hayward, a leading accounting firm, has stated that economic growth
will rise to 3.4% in both the third and fourth quarters in 2006 as
compared to 2.4% last year. Its latest Business Trends Report also
showed that companies expect inflation to reach 2.25% in the second
half of 2006, above the Treasury's target of 2%,
and this certainly means that there would be no reduction in
interest rates later this year. British manufacturing expanded in
March at the fastest pace in 11 months as accelerating world economic
growth lifted exports.
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There seems to be some conflicting reports on the
housing front with the Halifax bank, the largest mortgage lender,
saying that house prices have risen by an annual rate of 8%, while the
Nationwide Building Society only reports 6.2%.
UK EcoHomes scheme favours FSC and CSA
TTJ
reported that the UK housing corporation Building Research
Establishment (BRE) has recently updated UK's EcoHomes scheme, which
requires social housing developers to achieve a "very good" rating in
EcoHomes for 84,000 new homes funded under the £4bn National
Affordable
Homes Programme 2006-2008. The scheme ranks forest certification
schemes differently from the government's Central Point of Expertise
on Timber (CPET). In EcoHomes 2006, developers using FSC and CSA
certified timber earn three points while PEFC and SFI certified wood
earns two points towards EcoHomes credits. Independently verified
legal timber can secure one point.
CPET
regards FSC, PEFC, SFI and CSA as equals in providing evidence of
legal and sustainable timber sourcing. BRE said EcoHomes was updated
to meet CPET guidance and also following consultation with EcoHomes
Timber credits advisory groups. According to BRE, PEFC scored fewer
points because of its less stringent "social criteria" compared with
other schemes, and due to its probationary status with the government.
The British Woodworking Federation said the updated scheme could have
a big impact on public procurement and will push the use of chain of
custody certification across the timber and wood products sectors.
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