The Sleep Options beds by Classic Brands, made in China, are part of that producer’s growing bed-in-a-box program.

Highly efficient bedding factories, lower labor costs and aggressive export programs are fueling strong growth in the United States for Chinese bedding producers.

Those manufacturers, who last year posted a 181% jump in shipments of beddingfoundations to the U.S. and a 42% increase in the value of mattress shipments to the U.S., are “hyper-competitive,” one leading China-based producer noted. The value pricing they offer on their products is attractive to mattress retailers across the country, who are always interested in sharply priced lines, bedding observers say.

U.S.-based bedding producers who source mattresses and foundations from China say explosive growth in the online mattress category is sparking the latest growth surge in Chinese-made bedding goods. Also, the Chinese bedding factories have upgraded their manufacturing capabilities and combine greater manufacturing efficiencies with lower costs to provide compelling bedding values.

China is by far the leading source country for imported mattresses, according to government data published by Furniture/Today earlier this year. The figures showed that Chinese mattresses last year recorded shipments to the U.S. of about $363 million, far ahead of No. 2 mattress importer Mexico, which recorded mattress shipments last year of about $111 million, unchanged from the previous year. Canada is a distant third, with mattress imports of about $26 million, a 15% increase.

In bedding foundations, Mexico is the leading source of imports, with shipments of about $8.5 million, a 46% increase. No. 2 China is at about $8 million, a 181% increase.

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(Source:Furniture Today,  Author:David Perry)