As our new retail year begins we are trying to think ahead and plan what is likely to be the most popular type of futon furniture for the coming year. We expect all types of hardwood bases from Malaysia to be popular, but there is a problem. As the world economies pick up and the Chinese in particular, the demand for this type of wood is growing and the futon bases will become scarcer and more expensive in Europe. We are currently searching for further supplies of good quality pine futon frames and hope that these will be able to run in addition to the rubberwood futons. As there is already supply diificulties for some items, we would encourage customers not to take this type of product for granted, even put a little bit of thought and appreciation into the complex logistics involved in getting these futons to Europe.

About 2 years ago there was an interesting TV program showing how containers from the far east are offloaded and reloaded and moved around by computer in Singapore. If Singapore hadn’t made this costly and imaginative investment many of the products on the high st wouldn’t as cheap and available as they are. Unfortunately the container miracle is also showing signs of stress, at this moment in time many container ships have been mothballed due to the world recession, the sailing survivors are outdated, oil burning and inefficent, and there aren’t enough sailings to accomadate European demand. Maybe enough bad news (don’t shoot the messanger, as they say) but the moral of this post is to expect big changes soon in our wholesale and retail habits and even to our way of life.