“We are focused on and catching up on lost time. After the lockdown, with our main export markets in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries and Germany seeing stores reopen, demand for our furniture grew, and with this so did orders from our partners. We are successfully strengthening our position in Germany, a relatively new export market for us. Rapid sales growth here has compensated for the relatively lower demand due to the coronavirus in our other markets,” Kauno Baldai CEO Tomas Mauricas says.
According to Mauricas, after the lockdown furniture sales in Europe recovered unexpectedly quickly, but after seeing rapidly increasing coronavirus infection rates, sellers are uncertain about the future.
“While participating in international furniture exhibitions after the lockdown, we noted our clients’ desire to increase orders so that if there are new restrictions imposed, they would have sufficient goods in reserve in their warehouses. To fulfil these orders, we have been working at maximum capacity for some time now. However, our plans could be adjusted by supply disruptions for certain materials such as polystyrene, as well as raw material price increases.
“Nevertheless, if the accelerating pandemic in Europe will not freeze trading and close stores, and material supplies will not be interrupted, Kauno Baldai will reach the end of the year with similar sales as last year. We hope perhaps even a little better,” T. Mauricas states.
Last year, Kauno Baldai saw double-digit growth, one of the main reasons for which was a strategic decision made a few years ago to create more furniture collections of their own. Currently, the furniture designed in Kaunas comprises 75 per cent of the company’s product sales, with the aim to keep this ratio in the future as well.
In 2019, Kauno Baldai sales reached 20.5 million euros, with the company exporting 100 per cent of its production to Western Europe.
SBA Group is one of Lithuania’s largest and operates in the real estate, textile and furniture production sectors, employing around 5,000 staff. Other than Kauno Baldai, the SBA furniture production sector includes SBA Baldų Kompanija, which manages Klaipėdos Baldai, Germanika, Visagino Linija and Mebelain.
