İnegöl Furniture Market

Introduction

İnegöl is a city in the Bursa province within the Marmara region of Turkey and it’s one of the most important centers of furniture production for its relatively small size.

About İnegöl

İnegöl is around 50 kilometers away from Bursa and next to the outskirts of Uludağ mountain. It has mountains and hills all around containing a lot of natural resources such as wood, hot springs, rivers, and waterfalls. İnegöl is located on one of the major highways E90 that starts at Portugal, Lisbon and ends at the south-east of Turkey, which connects İstanbul to Ankara.³Google maps picture highlighting İnegöl's location.

İnegöl Furniture Market Overview

The region is one of the most important furniture industry locations in Turkey, with the furniture sector accounting for 88.5 percent of all industrial companies in the district. According to 2019 data, the furniture business alone accounts for 42 percent of district exports and 17 percent of Turkey’s furniture exports.^{1 2}Graph showing 2019 exports of Turkey compared to İnegöl’s 2019 exports. İnegöl alone exported 0.67% of total exports of all Turkey of which 42% furniture export. ² 

History

Since İnegöl and its surroundings always had rich natural resources of wood, the wood and timber processing facilities have always been the significant industry in the region.

 

Wooden war galley with oars sticking out and red cross flagsKnights Hospitalier galley warship with a lot of oars.

The first record of wood processing business in İnegöl is written down in cadastral record book of Hüdavendigar in 1523 and according to it, there were villages in İnegöl producing the oars for the famed galley (kadırga) ships of the Ottoman Empire.¹

Record-keeping wasn’t done much in Turkish until the Turkish republic was founded. We have to skip over to the 20th century as there is not enough data to speak on. In the year 1922, İbrahim Bosnalı, Şakir Lakşe & Zihni Efendi found Uludağ & Karabel forest timber processing company. And there are rumors that Hasan Mutlu and his children were producing the country’s most sturdy and quality chairs in the 1920s. ²

Starting from 1945, the production of coffee tables, tables, wardrobes, and other furniture was starting to be produced in İnegöl. During this Era, Furniture Art School is founded by Ali & İbrahim Özyeşil brothers and this school started to make qualified workers and craftsmen available for the furniture industry in İnegöl. ¹

After these developments, the furniture production started to pick up the pace and the know-how and expertise of the İnegöl furniture market widened to cover all the furniture needs of commercial and residential places.

İnegöl Furniture In 2000s

Starting from the 2000s, the Furniture Brands of Turkey started to give designs and branding more importance and flagship brands of İnegöl started to be more apparent. In 2004, 150 furniture producers gathered and built İMOTİM in which İnegöl brands started to sell and showcase furniture both for retail and wholesale. In 2006. the first organized furniture industrial site in Turkey was built in İnegöl. In 2015 the first furniture shopping mall of Turkey İnegöl Mobiliyum AVM opened for the retail buyers of Turkey and the world. ²

İnegöl Furniture Today

With its number of firms and annual export figures, İnegöl is a notable area of furniture manufacturing in Turkey. The furniture firms in İnegöl is divided into three categories: office furnitures, kitchen furnitures, and other furnitures in the ITSO database. According to SGK 2018 data, İnegöl has 211 offices, 21 kitchens, and 1484 other furniture firms. According to the 2018 data, 1.400.000 sofas and 1.480.000 other furniture were manufactured, totaling up to 2.880.000.¹ Unfortunately, due to poor classifications of the data, it’s hard to get a more specific, useful data here.

İnegöl Furniture Exports

Furniture exports ranked by volume in Turkey by cities are:

1. İstanbul
2. Kayseri
3. İnegöl

Even though İnegöl is not a province, it’s just a city within the Bursa province, it has a total export volume bigger than most of the provinces in Turkey, ranking 19th across the provinces. ² 

Starting from 2010 there is a substantial increase throughout each year in İnegöl’s furniture exports. Close to 400% increase in 10 years.¹

The main export destination countries of İnegöl’s furniture sector are:¹  

Middle East

• Iraq
• Saudi Arabia
• Libya

 

North Africa

• Moroco
• Algeria

 

Europe

• Germany
• France
• United Kingdom

Graph showing inegol furniture exports by countriesTurkey’s export destination countries starting from 2012 to 2019 ²

Sources

1. STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY IN INEGOL DISTRICT, AN EVALUATION ON ITS DISTRIBUTION AND PROBLEMS
2. İnegöl Ticaret Sanayi Odası 2020 Ekonomik Raporu
3. Avrupa E-Yolu E90