Yes, all this cheap oak, you have to ask why. (and I agree, not all oak is equal - species, forest management, processing, all differs)
Central Europe (what we might call Eastern Europe) has gi-normous managed oak forests, so when countries like Poland and the Slovak Republic joined the EU the price of 'real oak furniture' came tumbling down. Latvia is 50% forest, bit over half of that deciduous, and exports about 2 billion EUR of timber products each year - softwood, fuels pellets, hardwood ... if its wood they export it. Lithuania is 33% forest. Added to that, some far east counties like Vietnam in the mix. Most of it is exported as 'product', mass produced to support local employment and, in non EU countries, bring in foreign currency so margins are likely to be slim.
If you look at the perpetual sale in the various shops, like oak furniture land, they will sell you a guaranteed 100% hardwood dovetail jointed dressing table for £300, assume distribution, storage, back office, website and and VAT eats up 40%, sales commission, shop costs etc maybe another 20%, and add a bit of profit ... so it's being made, packed and shipped for less than £100. I suspect their main source of profit comes from selling the 'only £xxx a week for the rest of forever, apr 39%' finance and spurious after care packages rather than the product itself but still the oak itself will be a minimal cost.
But the people who manufacture will doubtless generate metre after metre of 50mm wide off cuts, perfect for making chopping boards, knife blocks and and gee-gaws to tempt us all.
