BENGALURU: India’s furniture makers are turning to locally sourced wood and recalibrating prices amid rising costs and import delays.
Companies, including Pepperfry and Wooden Street, said there is no outright shortage of raw materials yet, but uncertainty around international shipments, rising logistics costs and inflation in crude-linked inputs are beginning to reshape sourcing and pricing decisions across the industry.
The disruption is accelerating a shift towards more locally sourced woods, while forcing manufacturers to build inventory buffers as the category is heavily dependent on discretionary urban consumption.
Furniture makers are treading with caution as sustained price increases and delivery delays can quickly affect consumer demand, especially in urban middle-income segments where buyers tend to postpone big-ticket home purchases during periods of uncertainty.
The Indian furniture market, particularly premium and modular segments, depends heavily on imported hardware fittings, laminates and petroleum-linked foam chemicals even when final manufacturing happens locally.
The industry imports roughly 15-20% of premium inputs such as raw solid wood, timber logs, veneer, and engineered panels from countries such as Vietnam, China, Malaysia, and parts of Europe, per industry estimates.
TCC Concepts-owned Pepperfry said around 30-35% of its stock-keeping units (SKUs) had seen some increase in customer prices, largely in the 7-8% range, driven by higher freight and input costs.
A six-seater dining table, for instance, is now roughly 5-10% more expensive than it was a quarter ago, industry executives said.
“About 5-7% SKUs would have seen 15% plus price changes,” Ashish Shah, co-founder and chief executive of Pepperfry, told Mint.
Listed player Wakefit Innovations Ltd said in its March quarter investor presentation that multiple external headwinds impacted the second half of the year, “weighing on consumer demand and discretionary spending”. The companysaid it was “closely monitoring raw material prices to navigate the volatile environment with prudent price increases and focused cost optimization efforts.”
Raw material procurement costs rose substantially during the latter part of March this year, with select inputs such as polyols and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) — key foam chemicals used in mattresses and furniture — witnessing price increases ranging from 30% to 160% year-on-year across the industry.
Growing unpredictability in shipping timelines is turning out to be a significant challenge. “Three weeks becomes five, five becomes seven, and often you find out late,” said Lokendra Ranawat, co-founder and chief executive of Premji Invest-backed Wooden Street, describing delays linked to international shipments routed through Red Sea corridors.
Hardware fittings, specialty laminates and premium veneers have been among the most impacted categories because quality-focused manufacturers rely on specialized overseas suppliers. “There’s also no real, quick domestic swap at the same level,” Ranawat added.
Wooden Street has raised inventory buffers and increased supplier coordination to avoid production disruptions.
Pepperfry’s Shah said ocean freight costs on some import routes had nearly doubled, making imported furniture and components more expensive and less predictable to source.
“Businesses can adjust to higher prices over time. The real challenge is uncertainty in sourcing and delivery schedules,” Shah said.
For smaller furniture manufacturers in Bengaluru’s furniture clusters such as Bommanahalli and Mysuru Road, the impact has been more immediate.
“Imported fittings and premium laminates are taking much longer to arrive now, and customers don’t always want to wait,” said Ramesh Gowda, owner of Bengaluru-based Sri Balaji Woodworks, a local solid wood furniture maker that largely caters to apartment buyers and custom home projects.
Indian woods win
The supply-chain disruption is also accelerating a broader shift toward locally available woods and engineered alternatives.
According to Pepperfry, teak had already become expensive for online and mass-market retail even before geopolitical tensions intensified. “People had started moving on from teak towards sheesham, mango and acacia,” Shah said.
Bengaluru’s Balaji Woodworks is leaning on wood sourced domestically to avoid volatile import costs and shipping delays. “Some price-sensitive customers are more open to engineered wood and Indian hardwood alternatives if delivery timelines are shorter,” Gowda said.
For Wooden Street, which works extensively with Rajasthan’s artisan ecosystem, domestic sourcing had held up relatively well. Ranawat said the company was evaluating whether high-quality alternatives could be sourced domestically before turning to overseas suppliers.
He also said brands and manufacturers who used to treat domestic vendor development as a long-term agenda item are now treating it as an immediate business need.
The Indian furniture market was valued at approximately $23.12 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9% to reach $32.7 billion by 2026, according to the Trade Promotion Council of India.