Cologne. The head associations of the
German woodworking and furniture industry have elected Helmut Lübke for
their president one more time. The annual convention of both
associations unanimously re-elected Lübke in Cologne on June 12, 2006,
for his next three-year period of office. Lübke presides the
"Hauptverband der Holz und Kunststoffe verarbeitenden Industrie" (HDH)
and the "Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie" (VDM) at the same time
since 1997.
Lübke (70) is managing partner of "interlübke" and shareholder of
"COR-Sitzmöbel". Since 1989, he is chairman of the advisory council to
the world's largest furniture trade fair "imm cologne". He is member of
the board for the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA)
and president of Germany's most important designers' institution "The
German Design Council".
Today, the woodworking and furniture industries 2 700
companies employ about 200 000 workers. The industries total 2005
revenue was 34.3 billion Euro. The furniture manufacturers being the
most important branch of Germany's wood-based industry provides
employment for 105 000 workers in 1 125 companies. Their 2005 revenue
totalled 17.2 billion Euro - which means a growth by 1.9 percent for
the first time in a five years period.
The main reason for this figure was a positive development in
furniture export which grew by 5.9 percent in the year 2005. In the
first quarter of 2006, the export business continued this development
with an excellent growth by 15.4 percent. A total growth of the German
furniture industry by 2 percent is expected.
