Romania is an European country with 21.6 million inhabitants and a GDP of Euro 78.3 billion (in 2005). 26,7% of the whole area of the country (238,391 sq. km) is covered by forests, of which 70% in the mountains. Beech is the main species (36%) followed by softwood (30.7%), oak (11.0%) etc .

About the industrial furniture production we can speak of only beginning with the 20^th century. In 1915 there were 12 furniture plants and 70 joinery shops, while in 1944 their number was increased to 73 furniture factories and 86 joinery shops, which produced both doors and windows as well as furniture pieces.

The building up of new furniture factories began with the years 50's, the technical level of the equipment being that generally provided at those times. However, in 1990 the furniture was produced by 497 units, which were mainly integrated in the structural organization of big woodworking complexes. All these units have been re-organized later in the form of trading companies, which are still in operation.

In 2003 there were more than 3,876 companies in Romania whose main activity was furniture manufacture and of which 80 were large-, 295 were medium- and the rest of them were small-sized companies. Besides, there were in operation furniture shops having less than 10 employees and also furniture production units operating as parts of companies having different activities.

In respect of technology, all the furniture factories have been designated as fully integrated systems having no co-operation with other factories or departments specialized in production of wood prefabricates a nd components. As it concerns the equipment, it's a noticeable thing that many companies have modernized their technical endowments but without reaching the state of the art, with adverse effect on productivity and quality of the products.

As for the aspect of the furniture types, it covers the full range of households furniture, office furniture, school furniture, shop furniture, hotel furniture etc , with a special stress on period furniture imitating the old styles as well as on life style furniture, internal and international demand accordingly.

The structure of the Romanian furniture capacities is as follows: bedrooms - 12.5%, dining rooms 21.9%, office furniture - 2.6%, upholstered furniture - 7.7%, kitchen furniture - 2.8%, chairs - 10.6%, small furniture - 22%, other - 19.9%. More than 50% of the furniture is made from beech, 20% form oak, 15% from coniferous species, and the rest from other wood species.

The labour employed in the furniture industry amounts around 89,400 persons that is 6.3% from the total workforce working in the Romanian industry.

In 2005 the furniture production amounted to Euro 1,195 million, of which around 75% was exported.

In the Romanian furniture industry, all of the manufacturing companies are private (including those privatized). There is no production or trading monopole in Romania and the furniture export is completely liberalized. In 2005 the Romanian furniture export amounted to Euro 896 million of which 77% in EU countries (mainly in Germany - 17%, France - 18.25%, Netherlands - 8.1%, Italy - 12.5%). At the same time, furniture exports represented 4% of the whole Romanian export.

In the area of general technical conditions of quality for products and processes, there have been adapted to the international and especially to the European standards 36 national norms and standards (a half of these to the CEN standards and the other half to the ISO standards). Specific legislation includes regulations in particularly important fields such as: environment protection, certification, quality, protection of consumers and of general use.