Buying a mattress is no easy task and can turn from difficult to nightmare with all the marketing hype. We as consumers suffer from option overload. To many options, or what are perceived as options from the marketers.
This site is dedicated to providing as much information as possible to assist you in your next purchase. It may get too far into the nuts and bolts of mattresses but we have found that specifics, are exactly what is missing, in mattress “guides” or “forms”. We also try to shed light on some of the horror stories consumers have told, balancing it out with the perspective of the retailer and manufacturer.
Mattress business world report…
The United States remains the world’s largest mattress market, with a production topping $4.5 billion U.S. last year, but China has become the world’s largest exporter of mattresses, with its exports increasing a whopping 25% between 2004 and 2005, according to the 2005 World Mattress Industry Report compiled by CsilMilano.
The United States leads the list of mattress producing countries, followed by China, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Spain and Japan.
The report shows that mattress production (at wholesale prices, excluding foundations) for just seven countries-Canad, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States-grew $0.5 billion between 2004 and 2005, bringing total production of those countries to $7.9 billion. Considering the output of 13 other leading producers adds $3.8 billion to the tally, for a total of $11.7 billion.
Innerspring mattresses continue to account for the majority of mattresses produced in many of these countries. Some 55% of units produced in Europe are innerspring, as are 78% of units produced in North America.
Imports and exports…
For 20 major countries for which figures were available, the imports/consumption ratio has increased from 7% in 1998 to 11% in 2005. The opening of new markets in which international trade is expanding is expected to continue as recent improvements in transport logistics are changing the economics of mattress trade,” according to the report.
Countries doing the most importing are Germany, the United States, France, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, CsilMilano says.
China now leads the list of exporting countries, followed by Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Poland. CsilMilano’s forecast for 2006-2007 is for continued growth of international trade of mattresses, reflecting the increasing role of china.
