Peng Yi: The air-conditioning industry is grim in the second half of the year

“Although air-conditioning sales in the first two quarters of 2013 were better than the previous year, the overall market has insufficient incentives. With the exit of energy-saving products and projects for the benefit of the people, the housing market continues to be limited. The air-conditioning market in the second half of 2013 is not optimistic.”

On May 31, 2013, at the 2013 (6th) annual meeting of the China Air Conditioning Industry jointly organized by China Electronics News and Beijing Zhongyekang Times Market Research Co., Ltd., Peng Yi, Vice President of Yikang, forecasted.

In 2012, the air-conditioning industry has shown signs of decline due to factors such as the macroeconomic downturn, sluggish demand in the real estate market, trade-in replacements, and home appliances to the countryside policies leading to advance demand for consumer demand. With the gradual improvement of the domestic economic situation in the second half of 2012, and the successive use of affordable housing and the stabilization and recovery of the real estate market in 2013, together with the deepening and joint action of the energy-saving products and the Huimin Project, the air-conditioning market was finally in the first quarter of 2013. The recovery momentum has ushered in. According to the monitoring data of China Yikang, from January to March 2013, the year-on-year increase in air-conditioning retail sales and retail sales reached 17.1% and 21.44%, respectively.

Peng Yu said that the energy-saving products Huimin project has played an important role in the adjustment of industrial structure and end-use consumption in the past year. As of April 2013, the market share of retail sales of energy-saving products for air-conditioning energy-saving products was 15.62% from June last year. Increased to 65.69%. Driven by the energy-saving products and the Huimin project, the market share of the energy-efficient two-stage frequency converter and constant speed machine has increased rapidly. "Taking this year's May 1 Golden Week' as an example, the share of retail sales of energy-efficient two-stage inverters was as high as 36.9%, retail sales increased 416.5% year-on-year, and the share of retail sales of energy-efficient two-stage fixed speed machines was 32.5%, an increase of 166.6% year-on-year."

At the same time, with the industrial upgrading, the proportion of high-end products has increased, and the average price of air-conditioning products has shown an upward trend. "Still this year's '51 Golden Week' as an example, air-conditioning retail price rose 8.5% year-on-year, of which the market's most expensive products - the average price of energy-saving constant-speed machines and energy-efficient two-stage inverters dropped sharply, respectively, year-on-year decline 32.6% and 21.3%,” Peng Peng said.

For the industry trend in the second half of 2013, Peng Xin analyzed that with the end of the energy-saving products and the Huimin project, the air-conditioning market will also enter a deep-adjustment period in the second half of 2013, and the third quarter may return to a low point. The market outlook is not optimistic.

It is worth mentioning that as the energy efficiency of air-conditioning products continues to escalate, the new version of the inverter air conditioner energy efficiency standards that have been revised and will be promulgated and implemented recently has also caused widespread concern in the industry. At the annual meeting, participants were unwilling to comment on when the new frequency conversion standard will be introduced. Most people in the industry believe that the new standard will be introduced in October this year. Qi Yun, deputy chief engineer of the China Household Electrical Appliances Inspection and Testing Institute, said that because the revision of this standard not only improves energy efficiency, it is necessary for enterprises to adjust product structure, improve heating energy efficiency, increase heating, reduce standby power, and enhance testing. Several aspects of room testing capabilities are set to adapt to changes in the new standard.