The 30th China International Furniture Exhibition & China High-End Furniture Manufacturing Exhibition, 2025 Modern Shanghai Design Week and Modern Shanghai Fashion Home Exhibition recently opened at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. The two exhibitions and two venues were launched simultaneously. The scale of this exhibition has expanded to 350,000 square meters, an increase of 30,000 square meters compared to the previous edition. There are 50 exhibition halls in total, attracting over 3,200 global exhibitors from 24 countries and regions. Against the backdrop of fluctuating foreign trade and the reshaping of supply chains, this exhibition showcases the resilience and future prospects of China's home furnishing industry in the new global economic landscape.
Reconstruct the trade connection model
To address the efficiency bottlenecks of traditional supply chains, the 2025 Design Week has for the first time established a "Factory Direct Sales Pavilion", bringing together over 200 source factories. It also collaborates online with the "Bohua Furniture Preferred" mini-program to create a 365-day uninterrupted "Design Supply Chain Expressway", and based on this model, it holds the factory-direct sales-themed exhibition "Long-Term Rental Era", precisely targeting high-growth sub-markets such as hotel-style apartments, providing efficient and transparent business paths for designers and brand owners.
The Jiangsu Weihang Furniture Co., Ltd., which is making its debut at the exhibition, focuses on the research, development, production and sales of mid-to-high-end full-home customization and living furniture. It brought several customizable bedside cabinets from its premium brand Muyi Muy to the factory direct sales hall. The front of the exhibition booth showcased two newly developed bedside cabinets by the company this year. These cabinets feature pull-out hidden storage layers on the cabinet surface and beneath the drawers, fully meeting the storage needs of consumers in limited housing spaces.
The company has a German Haumo board production line, which enables it to produce in batches according to customers' specified materials, styles, sizes, etc. It can also be upgraded to an intelligent bedside cabinet with USB fast charging ports and wireless charging settings, solving the problems of insufficient sockets or tangled data cables. Marketing Director Du Xiaqin told the Xinmin Evening News reporter that the company previously mainly engaged in furniture engineering projects, with relatively stable customers. However, due to the influence of the overall environment in recent years, the number of engineering projects has decreased. They want to take advantage of the exhibitions to contact more potential customers and strive to expand into new markets.
She said: "When we learned about the new model of factory direct sales at this exhibition, we were even more eager to participate. This provided us with more convenience for expanding our business. On the opening morning, several waves of Chinese and overseas customers came to inquire about the products and expressed their intention to purchase. One customer said that he would come again in the afternoon to discuss the specific details with us."
This exhibition also organized a series of efficient business activities such as "Global Buyers' Night", "Precision Trade Matching Conference", and "TopMatch High-end Resources Specialized Networking Event". These activities provided an ample communication platform and precise matching services for international buyers and exhibitors, helping enterprises explore diverse market opportunities.
It is worth noting that this year, the total number of tickets purchased by overseas viewers increased by 10.7% compared to the previous year, covering 193 countries and regions. Among them, the number of viewers from countries and regions along the "Belt and Road Initiative", such as India, the Middle East, and South Africa, saw a significant increase.
Outline the path for industrial transformation
China has the most complete and largest furniture industry chain in the world. As one of the organizers of the furniture exhibition, the China Furniture Association has specially set up the "Top 10 Chinese Furniture Brands Exhibition" at this event. With the theme of "Brand Power", it invites well-known domestic brands to showcase their latest highly-developed products, exploring and presenting the design, materials, craftsmanship, and environmental protection features through creative displays. It aims to present the originality, technology, and product strength of Chinese furniture to global audiences.
The Forward Furniture Co., Ltd. showcased its original creations, including the "Mingxiang" coat rack that won the German Red Dot Award, which was awarded in July this year, as well as the "Apple" lamp that was presented at the ADI Museum during the 2025 Milan Design Week. The staff at the event introduced that the "Mingxiang" coat rack drew inspiration from the winter plum blossoms and was modeled after the individual plum blossoms. The fresh and elegant green color resembles the budding of the plum tree in early spring, emitting a subtle fragrance while also concealing vitality, fully embodying Eastern aesthetics. "The coat rack as a whole adopts traditional mortise and tenon, precise toothed connection and seamless techniques. The small tea table 'Juzhuoyuanshu' is made from a combination of walnut and maple woods, and then a disc-shaped part is carved out from the middle using high-precision machinery and techniques, achieving a truly seamless connection of solid wood in terms of craftsmanship."
Xu Xiangnan, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the China Light Industry Federation and the president of the China Furniture Association, said that the current international situation is complex and changing, and globalization is in a period of deep adjustment. However, the Chinese economy has withstood the pressure and has maintained stability overall. Driven by a series of policies such as the "old-for-new" policy for consumer goods, the domestic sales of furniture have continued to grow.
"But some enterprises are also facing considerable development pressure," he said. He said that from January to July this year, the cumulative export of China's furniture industry reached 40.14 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5%. The operating income of large-scale enterprises in the furniture industry was 353.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%, and the total profit was 15.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 15.2%, presenting a complex situation of domestic demand recovery, external demand pressure and reduced benefits.
The 2025 Furniture Exhibition and Design Week fully demonstrated the new landscape of China's home furnishing industry, covering aspects such as scale expansion, ecological construction, innovation leadership, cross-border integration, and ultimate pursuit. Each dimension showcased the profound changes taking place in China's home furnishing industry. Xu Xiangnan said: "This is not only an industry event, but also a declaration for the future - China's home furnishing industry is redefining the future picture of home life with systematic innovation capabilities and a global strategic vision, providing Chinese wisdom and solutions for the development of the world's home furnishing industry."
