After two years of sluggish business, local furniture makers saw a slight improvement in sales in June, only to meet with nationwide student protests culminating in a fierce anti-government campaign that ultimately ousted the Awami League regime in early August.

Since then, industry insiders said their overall sales have declined at least 40 percent, with businesses with government offices and corporate clients becoming the worst hit.

While households have somewhat recovered from the initial shock of stubbornly high inflation, they are now mainly purchasing essential furnishings. However, sales are far below expectations for this winter, traditionally a period of increased demand due to weddings and other occasions.

Although the political landscape shows some stability lately, price pressures still remain high, hovering above 9 percent since March 2023. Besides, the weakening Taka against the greenback has further eroded furniture sales, as rising raw material costs drive up product prices.

"Our overall sales have declined this year due to plummeting consumer purchasing power and their diminishing disposable incomes," said Selim H Rahman, chairman and managing director of Hatil Furniture, one of the leading local brands established in 1989.

According to Rahman, government agencies and the corporate sector have reduced their purchases by at least 80 percent since the political changeover.

"Normally, the government procures furniture worth Tk 120 crore annually, but there are no signs of new work orders anytime soon."

The corporate sector has also halted purchases of office furniture over the past five months, Rahman added.

Although household furniture sales have increased recently due to the ongoing wedding season, the Hatil Furniture chairman said their overall sales in 2024 have declined by over 30 percent.

The impact of the dollar on furniture prices is another factor contributing to the sales decline.

As the US dollar gained against Taka, Rahman said they had to raise furniture prices to keep pace with rising raw material costs and duties.

Rahman, also the chairman of the Bangladesh Furniture Industries Owners Association, added that their revenue in last year was around Tk 468 crore, but it may decrease to Tk 330 crore this year.

While Regal Furniture -- a sister company of the Pran-RFL Group -- did not experience a massive sales decline, it also did not achieve the anticipated growth for the outgoing year.

"Sales did not increase as much as we had expected. Especially in the last five months after the political changeover in August, sales have decreased," said Touhiduzzaman, deputy general manager of public relations at the Pran-RFL Group.

After two years of sluggish demand, he claimed that their business was quite good before June, with increased sales of home furnishings.

The business of Regal Furniture has three segments: office furniture for corporate sectors, office furniture for public agencies and home furnishings for regular consumers.

Since August, sales to government and business institutions have declined sharply due to political instability and economic gloom, said Touhid.

He, however, said that sales of home furniture remained relatively strong because they cater to the middle-class market.

As a result, their household furniture sales have not fluctuated much, making the impact of the economic downturn less visible in this segment compared to others that have logged massive declines.

Despite the current market downturn, Touhid sounded optimistic about a rebound in the next six months as the economy and overall conditions have started to show some improvements.

Another leading brand Partex Furniture saw its sales falling by nearly half in the past five months following the political shift, according to its Head of Marketing Shohan Akon Sunny.

"We had just started to recover from a two-year slowdown, but office furniture sales have once again entered a dull period," he said.

Sunny said the economic downturn has discouraged wealthy individuals from buying new furniture. Besides, last year's increase in furniture prices due to the rising US dollar discouraged consumer spending.

While Partex expected an industry growth in recent years, this has not materialised, Sunny added.