Brazil returns in May to the leading platform for contemporary design in the U.S., aiming to expand business, empower partnerships, and reinforce its position in the historically largest export destination for the Brazilian furniture sector, amid adjustments in trade relations between the two countries.
Just weeks after completing another significant participation at Salone del Mobile.Milano, in Italy, Brazil is turning its attention to another key axis of global design: New York City. From May 17 to 19, the Brazilian furniture industry and design scene will return to ICFF 2026 — the International Contemporary Furniture Fair — through the Brazilian Furniture Sector Project, reinforcing an international agenda focused on presence, visibility, and positioning.
As North America’s leading platform for contemporary design, ICFF operates as both a trend and business radar for a highly qualified audience of architects, specifiers, buyers, retailers, and specialized media from across the Americas and several regions around the world. Held as part of NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s design week, the fair stands out for its direct commercial profile, where aesthetic language and market viability move side by side. It is within this environment that Brazilian furniture finds a strong platform to translate its diversity into concrete business opportunities, through the actions led by ABIMÓVEL (Brazilian Furniture Industry Association) in partnership with ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).
Outlook for ICFF 2026
Expectations are built on a consistent track record at the event, with Brazilian brands expanding their international reach year after year and turning presence into results, including new business connections, access to distribution channels, and international recognition, with awards that reinforce Brazil’s alignment with contemporary demands in design, sustainability, and productive innovation.
In 2025, Brazilian Furniture initiatives generated around 2,860 contacts, more than 94% of them new connections, with closed and prospective business exceeding USD 126.8 million.
This year, beyond business matchmaking and product showcases, the goal is to present an integrated value chain that brings together material diversity, processes, industrial intelligence, creative repertoire, and the ability to adapt to different markets and commercial landscapes.
This responds to a current economic and geopolitical scenario that adds another layer to Brazil’s presence in the North American market. In the first two months of 2026, the United States remained the main destination for Brazilian furniture and mattress exports, although its share fell below the historical average, accounting for 17.7% of total exports. In the same period of 2025, that share was 26.7%, while in 2024 it reached 34.9%.
These figures reflect the effects of tariff measures imposed by the Trump administration over the past year, which affected negotiations, pressured margins, interrupted contracts, and reshaped part of the trade relationship with U.S. buyers.
Recent legal and political developments in the United States, however, have opened room for a review of these measures, creating a transitional scenario. While this does not represent a full normalization, it allows for a gradual rebuilding of trade relations. In this context, being physically present in the market — engaging with buyers, understanding demand, and adjusting portfolios — becomes even more decisive.
Diversification, Presence, and Market Intelligence
Brazil’s participation in ICFF 2026 is therefore part of a broader strategy of diversification and consolidation. On one hand, the country is advancing in other markets, including South America — especially due to geographic and cultural proximity — and Europe, driven by milestones such as the Mercosur–European Union Agreement, which provisionally entered into force on May 1. On the other, it is reinforcing its activity in the United States, recognizing both the historical relevance and the continued potential of this destination, as well as neighboring markets in North and Central America.
In this sense, more than a sequence of trade shows, Brazil’s movement across different international hubs reveals a logic of global coordination. What is projected for ICFF is the continuation of this process. In an increasingly competitive, regulated, and geopolitically sensitive business environment, Brazilian identity — expressed through the country’s material, cultural, industrial, and technical richness — remains one of the most consistent drivers of international market expansion.
In the coming days, new details will be announced about the participating brands, the concepts to be presented, and the planned actions, offering a deeper look at Brazil’s role in one of the leading showcases of contemporary design worldwide.
Brazilian Furniture Project
The Brazilian Furniture Project is an initiative by ABIMÓVEL in partnership with ApexBrasil, created to increase the participation of Brazil's furniture industry and production chain in the international market through a set of strategic actions built on the pillars of sustainability, competitiveness, and design integrated within the industry. Hundreds of companies are part of the project.
In the current cycle, the project's organizers are inviting not only furniture manufacturers and designers, but also component companies and industry suppliers to join Brazilian Furniture, further expanding the reach of Brazilian furniture and reinforcing the competitiveness of the Brazil brand worldwide.
To become part of the project and place your brand at the world's leading furniture industry events, visit:
brazilianfurniture.org.brAbout ABIMÓVEL
The Brazilian Furniture Industry Association (ABIMÓVEL) has spent nearly five decades supporting, developing, and strengthening Brazil's furniture production chain. The institution promotes and leads a positive agenda for the sector, benefiting more than 22,800 companies, which in 2025 generated more than R$ 92.1 billion in business and 287,200 direct jobs, within a production chain that indirectly employs around 1.1 million workers.
Throughout its trajectory, ABIMÓVEL has led a series of programs and actions focused on business, competitiveness, design, sustainability, technical standardization, innovation, and internationalization, promoting initiatives that expand the positioning of Brazilian furniture in both the domestic and global markets. Today, Brazil is the largest furniture producer in Latin America and the seventh largest in the world, a position that reflects the strategic relevance of a production chain that is diverse, capillarized, and closely aligned with market transformations.
abimovel.comAbout ApexBrasil
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. To achieve its goals, ApexBrasil carries out a variety of trade promotion initiatives aimed at boosting exports and enhancing the value of Brazilian products and services abroad, such as prospecting and trade missions, business matchmaking rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international fairs, and visits by foreign buyers and opinion leaders to learn more about Brazil's productive structure, among other business platforms also designed to strengthen the Brazil brand.
The Agency also works in coordination with public and private stakeholders to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, focusing on strategic sectors that contribute to the competitiveness of Brazilian companies and of the country as a whole.
apexbrasil.com.brFURNITURE: OUR BUSINESS!
Brazilian Furniture Industry Association – ABIMÓVEL
Press Office: press@abimovel.com | +55 14 99156-0238
