Covid carpet boom confirmed
August 24, 2022
The total value of the UK carpet market grew by a third in 2021 to a record high of £1.5 billion during the "pent-up demand" period as retail re-opened after lockdowns.
The latest annualised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) takes into account the effect of inflation and also of imports which make up more than half of the total UK carpet market.
But home-grown manufacturing was also booming with ONS data reporting that UK factories made 66.4m sqm of tufted carpets and rugs in 2021 – up 20.6% on the previous year (when many producers had periods of Covid closures) and reached a seven-year high overall.
Woven carpet production remained flat however during the same period – just 1.1% up at 4.59m sqm and that figure is a third lower than the total a decade ago.
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