Reporters recently learned from Hefei Customs that Anhui exported 36.447 million home appliances in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%. In June alone, home appliance exports hit 6.129 million units, rising 20.2% year on year, with an export volume of 2.96 billion yuan, up 4.6% from the same period last year.

"Searing heatwaves across Europe have boosted sales of cooling appliances, while emerging markets including Africa and Southeast Asia keep expanding," an official with Hefei Customs noted. Chinese brands’ market share in Europe has jumped from 27% in 2023 to 41% at present, making China Europe’s top supplier of air conditioners for the first time. Statistics show Anhui’s home appliance exports to Europe reached 5.72 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a 17% year-on-year growth. Exports of cooling products including refrigerators, air conditioners and electric fans climbed 27.3%, 2.3% and 27.8% respectively year on year.

Benefiting from zero-tariff policies between China and African countries, the penetration rate of home appliances such as washing machines and televisions keeps rising. The province’s home appliance exports to Africa stood at 1.12 billion yuan in the first six months, surging 38.9% year on year. Over the same period, exports to Southeast Asia hit 1.91 billion yuan, up 11% year on year. Leveraging their energy-efficient strengths, domestic brands are speeding up expansion into Southeast Asian markets.

Broken down by product category, the three major white goods — refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines — dominated Anhui’s home appliance exports in the first half of the year, with shipments of 9.247 million, 4.701 million and 3.793 million units respectively. Amid the intelligent upgrading of home appliances, cleaning robots have become a core export segment of China’s robotics industry. Anhui posted 954,000 yuan worth of cleaning robot exports in the first six months, injecting fresh momentum into the optimization of its home appliance export mix.

Source: Anhui Daily

Translated by Shao Hanzhe, intern