Carpet Industry

The Carpet Industry in New Zealand

Most carpet produced in New Zealand is wool carpet and is mainly tufted carpet.

A total of 13.9 million square metres of tufted and woven carpet, was produced in the year to June 2005. Over one third (5.2 million square metres) of this was exported. Australia is by far the largest export market for carpet and in the year to June 2005 accounted for around 90 per cent of carpet exports by value ($104.2 million FOB) and volume (4.7 million square metres). The United States was the second largest export carpet market by value in 2005 followed by Hong Kong, Japan and China.

Carpet imports were small in volume and mainly synthetic. In 2005, 4.9 million square metres was imported ($88.6 million FOB). Over half of this was imported from Australia.

Carpet and floor covering manufacturers tend to be few in number but relatively large employers. In 2005 the carpet and floor covering manufacturers industry employed 1,500 people in 30 enterprises.

Since 2005 manufactured volumes have reduced with the rise of cheaper imported synthetic carpets. Wool Carpets are still appreciated by higher-income consumers for their health, fire resistant and sustainability benefits.