Pipefine Patio Furniture

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Four area Ashley Furniture HomeStores in north and central Alabama are hosting the fourth annual Basket Brigade this year, where staff will be collecting food to feed hundreds of families in need this Thanksgiving.

Employees, vendors and customers can donate food to fill basket with everything needed for a Thanksgiving meal - vegetables, rolls, cranberry sauce, ingredients for dressing, desserts, yams, and fully cooked turkeys. Every year, employees and their families deliver the baskets to the families in need.

The recipients are identified by community organizations such as the nonprofit Manna House in Huntsville, Ala.

Collection boxes for donations are at the HomeStores in Huntsville, Hoover, Fultondale and Tuscaloosa, Ala. Donations of nonperishable items will be accepted through Monday, Nov. 30.

Total value amounts to $9.1 billion

U.S. furniture imports fell 22% for the first six months of 2009 as consumer demand skidded during the recession, according to new figures from U.S. government sources.

Numbers compiled by Furniture/Today’s market research staff from U.S. Customs Service, Census Bureau and International Trade Commission data showed that furniture imports in the first half were just under $9.1 billion, down from $11.6 billion in the same period in 2008.

Of the top 20 countries shipping furniture to the U.S., 17 saw double-digit drops during the period. Two, Vietnam and France, fell 6%, while only one - Poland - posted a gain, an 86% jump to $103.4 million that placed it at No. 9 on the list.

China retained its No. 1 spot, although its first-half shipments to the United States fell 19% to $5.4 billion.

Remaining a distant second was Vietnam, whose shipments fell 6% to $612.7 million.

No. 3 source Canada’s shipments fell 44% - the sharpest drop among the top 10 countries - to $580.9 million from $1.03 billion a year ago.

In order, it was followed by Mexico (down 22% to $415.5 million); Malaysia (down 15% to $290 million); Italy (down 43% to $257.9 million); Indonesia (down 22% to $235.9 million); Taiwan (down 23% to $216 million); Poland (up 86% to $103.4 million) and Thailand (down 19% to $95.7 million).

Further down the list were Germany (down 35% to $91.3 million); France (down 6% to $62.7 million); Brazil (down 40% to $54 million); Austria (down 41% to $49.7 million); the Philippines (down 52% to $41 million); India (down 13% to $40.9 million); the United Kingdom (down 30% to $35.5 million); Sweden (down 23% to $26.9 million) Norway (down 32% to $25.7 million) and Denmark (down 25% to $24.9 million).

For many source countries, shipments dropped more sharply in the first half of this year than they did for all of last year. For all of 2008, total U.S. furniture imports were down 6% from 2007, to $22.6 billion.

Canada remains top customer

U.S. furniture exports fell 21% in the first six months of 2009, signaling a drop in demand for the products in some of the top industrialized countries.

The numbers are based on information Furniture/Today’s market research staff compiles from the U.S. Customs Service, Census Bureau and International Trade Commission.

The first-half decline was a reversal from 2008, when U.S. furniture exports grew 15%. This year, shipments from January through June came to $1.05 billion, down from $1.3 billion in the comparable period a year earlier.

Canada remained the top market for U.S. furniture, but shipments to that market fell 21%, from $729.2 million to $579 million. That $150.2 million difference represented more than half of the overall drop in U.S. furniture exports during the six month period.

Other top markets in order include: Mexico (down 24% to $94.2 million); the United Kingdom (down 31% to $42.9 million); Saudi Arabia (up 33% to $27.7 million); Japan (down 2% to $21.3 million); China (down 42% to $16.6 million); the United Arab Emirates (down 14% to $15.7 million); Australia (down 31% to $10.4 million); the Bahamas (up 6% to $8.1 million) and Venezuela (up 60% to $7.9 million).

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the Bahamas, other countries in the top 20 that increased their furniture purchases from the United States included Panama (up 205% to $7.8 million), Qatar (up 109% to $6.1 million), Bermuda (up 41% to $6.1 million), the Cayman Islands (up 98% to $6 million), Costa Rica (up 95% to $5.7 million) and Malaysia (up 51% to $4.8 million).