China's home appliance to lead industry development

Author: Emma Lam

The household electrical appliances exhibition area brings together nearly 1,000 manufacturing and trading enterprises, and presents over 100 types of products in four major categories, including major appliances (refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners), kitchen appliances, personal care and small electrical appliances.

Automatic robots used in the manufacturing industry. [PHOTO PROVIDED TO CANTON FAIR NEWS]

Over the past 40 years, China's household electrical appliance enterprises have developed from OEMs to independent brands as well as from factories to global marketing. With increasing cross-border mergers and acquisitions, the household electrical appliance industry will continue to seize strategic opportunities and lead the development of the industry in the near future.

In recent years, enterprises have boosted R&D investment. In 2018, the annual R&D investment of Midea Appliances exceeded 10 billion RMB, and the number of Haier's global R&D centers have reached 46. In China, 43% of consumers of electronic products have at least one type of smart device, and nearly 40% of consumers have smart TVs.

At the same time, enterprises in China have seized strategic opportunities of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to actively explore diverse markets. After the launch of the BRI, China's household electrical appliance industry has boosted the development of markets along the B&R, driving sustainable growth in scale of the export. The export of China's household electrical appliances to the B&R countries and regions increased from 14.9 billion USD in 2012 to over 20 billion USD in 2018, with an increase of 37.5%. Among them, the export volumes to 24 countries including Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines and Poland have grown exponentially.

Insiders believe that China's household electrical appliance industry may usher in a new growth cycle between 2020 and 2025, and the export volume is expected to exceed 100 billion USD by 2025.