Wellington, New Zealand, November 3, 2005--Changing consumer tastes in home decor are causing problems for European and Middle Eastern carpet makers, according to a report from Stuff.co.nz.
Peter Whiteman, chief executive of exporter Masurel Fils, says a trend for younger consumers to prefer cheaper floor coverings is the principal reason for a fall in demand and lower prices at recent auctions of carpet-style wools.
Mr Whiteman has just returned from an extended visit to northern European mills, including in Britain, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia, and says many are struggling to make sales. While this was put down to the economic situation there, there seemed to be other factors behind the fall in customer demand, and the difficulties European Union manufacturers were having selling carpet at reasonable prices.
A similar situation was also apparent for makers from Nepal, Pakistan, India and Iran. "There is strong evidence that it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell high quality carpets."
This seemed to reflect trends with other aspects of home furnishing, with younger buyers preferring cheap Asian-made furniture and furnishings that could be thrown away when the owners grew tired of them.
Mr Whiteman said older consumers would pay handsomely for a quality hand-knotted Iranian carpet, and regard it as an investment. "Younger people – both here in New Zealand and elsewhere – don't have the same attitudes. They seem to like to buy cheap and throw it out when they get bored with it."
Trends to minimalist decoration in modern smaller apartments seemed to be encouraging this trend. "Even when they have a tiny apartment, they don't seem to want to spend too much on furnishing it."
Mr. Whiteman said laboriously made hand-knotted carpets were struggling to sell, as were the cheaper hand-tufted carpets.
China was continuing to buy carpet wools, though taking very modest quantities. They were also buying hand-knitting wools.
Australian and New Zealand carpet mills were still active, though signs of a building slowdown, especially across the Tasman, had led them to reduce production by between 5% and 10%.
"This may sound like a big drop, but it isn't: the Australasian mills are still busy. Remember that a few months ago they were running at capacity and couldn't meet demand either for carpet or carpet yarn."
Prices have drifted back steadily at recent auctions. Mr Whiteman said the markets weren't too healthy, and the price falls could not be blamed entirely on the recent strong rise in the Kiwi dollar.
Mr Whiteman said that there were few positive signs for wool at the moment. The worry was what might happen to prices early next year when there was a greatly increased offering of wool coming up for auction.
