In the Lithuanian furniture manufacturing sector, the number of bankrupt companies is increasing, while the operating companies are reducing the number of employees, in addition, the debts of companies are also increasing, according to the credit bureau "Creditinfo Lietuva", which conducted the study.
According to her, the sector now employs about 31 thousand people. employees - almost 2 thousand. less than last year, and from 2020-2021 the number of insolvent companies has increased by almost a third - 15 companies have already been declared bankrupt last year and this year, while previously this number reached 10-11 per year.
Aurimas Kačinskas, head of Creditinfo Lietuvos, said that currently, compared to last October, the demand for furniture makers' production has decreased by 32,5 percent.
"This decrease was determined by several reasons - the European Union market is saturated with new furniture, the real estate sector is slowing down, production costs have increased due to the higher prices of raw materials and electricity, as well as the cessation of exports to Russia and Belarus," A. Kačinskas said in the report.
According to A. Kačinskas, the debts of furniture manufacturing companies are also increasing.
"Although the number of registered debts decreased to 867 at the beginning of April this year, compared to 935 in the same period last year, the average amount of debt increased to 3 thousand. euros, when a year ago it was 2,7 thousand. euros. And a year ago, the analogous indicator was 2,3 thousand. euros - that's more than a quarter less than now," said A. Kačinskas.
According to the probability of late payment, the high and highest risk classes currently belong to 23 percent. furniture manufacturers. At the beginning of 2022, this indicator reached 24 percent, and in 2021 - 39 percent.
The analysis of insolvent companies showed that most of the companies that declared bankruptcy last year and this year (10) were established between 2016 and 2021, and only one had been operating since 1990. Half (7) of the companies that went bankrupt last year and this year operated in Vilnius and its vicinity, 4 - Beautiful, one by one - Klaipėda, Kretinga, Kėdainiai and Utena.
According to "Creditinfo Lietuvos" data, from 2020 to 2022, the number of companies in the sector in Lithuania increased from 1534 to 1678.
