A leading garden furniture supplier has warned that the industry faces massive problems if urgent action isn’t taken soon.

Jack Whiteley, Chairman of Katie Blake, claims that outdoor furniture suppliers to garden centres are experiencing the most difficult time ever.

“At Solex in July last year we all came away feeling good about 2024, buyers were looking forward to the new season and we and they were very happy. At Katie Blake having sourced and designed a whole selection of new products we were excited for 2024. Unfortunately, due to poor weather, the economy, the Government, and a myriad of other reasons the stock they all expected to sell before the end of the season didn’t sell and is currently sitting in warehouses across the country. 

“Now it’s January 2024 and the centres have still not placed orders for the coming season, that’s a huge mistake! The consumer will still want to buy garden furniture and we wonder how long that 2023 stock is going to last and how quickly the centres can replace it. Most Far East factories have been struggling as sales of outdoor furniture worldwide have been down and most of the factories laid off their staff to survive. That means that production is going to be much slower than it was remembering that many of the products require highly skilled workers and new untrained ones, without the necessary skills, will make production a lot slower. Add to this in the middle of February, only four weeks away, Chinese New Year which includes the other Far East countries such as Vietnam, take four weeks holiday celebrating New Year.

“Workers who are migrant go a long way home to be with their families, this has gone on for years. So, if orders are not placed now it’s going to be impossible for anyone to get supplied until way into April and May and definitely after Easter.

“Right now, we have a problem with shipping due to the Houti Pirates closing the Suez Canal and everything is going via the Cape of Good Hope adding two weeks minimum to the shipping time. It’s about 6 weeks now, normally four, so given there are no orders in the pipeline it’s going to be a long time before you are going to see any Garden Furniture. Sure, we have massive stocks in the Far East and here, but it’s never going to be everything you want. if we are lucky and can get a ship, which are becoming difficult to get as the lovely shipping lines have reduced the number of ships to force prices up, it’s going to be a long wait. 

“So, garden centres are going to have to do something quickly otherwise the Internet traders will take even more business than they do now. Don’t allow that to happen ensure you have stock to sell and get your orders placed now. It’s a high margin sale with lots of profit so make sure you’re not left behind which at the moment seems to us that’s the case.”