Comparison
Hotel furniture: Türkiye or China?
Türkiye against China for hotel FF&E turns on duty, inspection, order size and how much is made to order. Into the United States Turkish wooden casegoods carry 12.5% against 37.5% or more from China, twenty-five points across a whole package. Into the EU Turkish furniture enters duty-free on an A.TR. And you can stand in the Gemlik showroom and approve your own model room before the line opens.
The question comes up on every project and there is no single answer: it moves with the destination, the order size and how much of the package is made to order. We manufacture in Türkiye, and every line below is either a figure you can check or a question to put to both parties. Four differences actually decide it: duty at the destination port, whether you can inspect before paying, the minimum order the supply chain imposes, and how much of the package is made to order.
First: duty at the destination port
This is the only difference that can be stated in figures, and in one market it is large. The US figures are verified against HTSUS Revision 15 as of 5 August 2026:
| Destination | From Türkiye | From China |
|---|---|---|
| United States — wooden casegoods | 12.5% | 37.5% or more |
| European Union | Zero, on an A.TR inside the customs union | The ordinary EU rate — confirm with your broker |
| Saudi Arabia and the Gulf | Set by the importer of record; confirm with your broker | Same source, same question |
Why the US gap is this large
Wooden casegoods from Türkiye sit outside the Section 232 wood action and carry the Section 301 rate at 12.5%. The same lines from China carry 37.5% or more. Twenty-five points across the value of a whole FF&E package will decide a US project on its own.
China's EU rate is your broker's question
Our own side is settled: our goods are industrial and enter the EU duty-free on an A.TR. The rate on Chinese furniture depends on the ten-digit tariff line, so put the code to your customs broker and get the figure that will actually apply to your consignment.
And duty is not the landed cost
Freight, insurance, port charges, inland delivery and installation all remain. Duty is one line, and it is the line nobody can renegotiate after loading.
Second: can you inspect before you pay
This is the difference that never appears in a table and decides most projects anyway. The factory is in Gemlik, Bursa: 5,000 m² of production with a 350 m² showroom above it and eight hotel model rooms. You walk into them, open the drawers, sit on the seating and touch the finish before the purchase order is signed. For your project specifically a model room is built and approved before the line opens. Bursa is a day trip from Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai or Cairo, and from most of Europe; one visit is enough, because what you inspect is what gets made.
Third: order size
Small and mid-size hotels
Eighty to a hundred and fifty keys is the size this floor runs comfortably, and at that size no container imposes a minimum on you.
A package delivered in parts
Guestrooms, then public areas, then the restaurant — different phases and different schedules, on one purchase order and with one party answerable.
Changing something mid-production
A fabric or a dimension changed after the model room is approved is a decision made on a call, because the line running it is an hour from the desk deciding it.
When a China route fits the brief
Three briefs point east. A thousand keys of one design on a compressed schedule: Chinese furniture clusters run at a scale built for that programme. A standard piece in quantity, nothing custom: high-volume unit price is what that supply chain is engineered to produce, though into the United States twenty-five points of duty change the arithmetic. Catalogue buying: a wide range of ready types and styles, for a buyer who is not commissioning made-to-order at all. The working rule: the more of the package is made to order, the smaller the run and the more the inspection matters, the more the brief is ours. A made-to-order package for a mid-size hotel is the job this floor is set up for.
How to decide in ten minutes
Where is it shipping?
If the United States, run the duty first. The decision can end on that line. If the European Union, we enter duty-free on an A.TR.
How many keys, and how many designs?
A hundred keys with a custom design is our project. A thousand keys of one standard piece is not.
Will you inspect before paying?
If yes, and every procurement adviser says yes, cost the trip and the time to each option.
Who carries the risk at installation?
Ask both parties the same question: who stands on site until the last room is complete, and under what contract.
Common questions
- Is Turkish furniture more expensive than Chinese?
- The two figures price different things. A catalogue price from China buys a standard piece at volume; a factory price from Türkiye buys a made-to-order package, with a model room approved before production and one party answerable through installation. Put duty and the inspection trip into the same arithmetic and the gap narrows on a mid-size hotel package; into the United States it reverses, at 12.5% against 37.5% or more on the same lines.
- What is the quality difference?
- We will not answer that with adjectives. Quality is what the written specification says: the board, the foam density, the fabric, the hardware, and the fire and strength standards named in the contract. Ask both parties for the same specification and compare it line by line. Whoever declines to write it has answered you.
- Do your goods really enter the EU duty-free?
- Yes. Hotel furniture is industrial goods and moves inside the EU–Türkiye Customs Union on an A.TR movement certificate, regardless of where the board or the hardware came from.
- Does an A.TR prove the goods are not Chinese?
- No. It proves free circulation, not origin. A buyer who needs to evidence non-Chinese origin (for trade defence or a procurement content rule) asks for a certificate of origin, which is a different document and one we raise on request.
- How do your lead times compare with China's?
- Set per project against scope and materials, and fixed in the offer with the delivery date written into the contract: a date you can hold us to, not a brochure figure.
- Can we visit both before deciding?
- We recommend it. Our visit is booked, we receive you in English or Arabic, and you walk the eight model rooms on the same trip.
Send the BOQ and compare.
A bill of quantities or a drawing set is enough. We come back itemised line by line, so you can put it beside the other quote and compare on paper.
The floor, the flags and the model rooms are in one PDF. Download the company profile