China's foreign sales of furniture grow steadily

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- China sold abroad 24.12 billion U.S. dollars worth of furniture in the first 11 months of 2008, a growth of 21.7 percent on the same period of 2007, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

In November alone, the foreign sales stood at 2.52 billion U.S. dollars, up 13.8 percent year-on-year.

Foreign-funded companies made up 51.9 percent of China's total furniture exports. They sold 12.53 billion U.S. dollars worth, up 11.5 percent.

The United States and the European Union were the major target markets of Chinese-made furniture.

Between January and November, China sold 9.08 billion U.S. dollars worth of furniture to the United States, up 8.5 percent, and 5.57 billion dollars worth to the European Union, up 25.3 percent.