Belgium carpet imports halved in December
Carpet imports from the UK's largest trading importer, Belgium, fell by half in December as European manufacturers ended the year on a challenging note.
Overall imports of carpet declined 22 percent to £54.4 million year-on-year in December according to figures out Friday from HM Revenue & Customs, compiled by
The Furnishing Report. That followed annual declines between 2.5%–20% percent in the three autumn months immediately prior.
There were declines from all the major source nations in December including the Netherlands and the Eastern importers in China and Turkey, but Belgium led the pack in the slowdown with imports halved to £8.7 million compared with the same month a year ago.
But compared to 2020 as a whole, the 2021 picture represented an improvement with imports up 23% compared to the first year of the pandemic.



