Refrigerator Industry Enters Industry Callback Period

The refrigerator industry fell sharply in the second half of 2011 and it was unstoppable until 2012. The person in charge of most of the refrigerator companies interviewed said that the market conditions in the first quarter of 2012 were “extremely extreme” and eased slightly in the following two quarters.

National Bureau of Statistics data show that from January to September 2012, the cumulative production of refrigerators was 64,452,300 units, a year-on-year growth rate of -4.59%. This figure was 18.19% in the same period of 2011. It was even close to 30% in the same period of 2010, and the industry was at a glance.

The data in the retail terminal market is even worse. According to the data measured by CMM, from January to August 2012, the sales volume of the domestic refrigerator market was 23.51 million units, with sales of 55.1 billion yuan, down 13.4% and 13.0% year-on-year respectively.

Gome's sales data shows that from January to October 2012, the sales of refrigerators in Gome's retail system dropped by about 5%, and the decline in the first half of 2012 was even greater. Jin Liang, head of the ice-washing division of the Gome Appliances Business Center, said that in the first-tier cities, the stagnant development of the real estate market has caused the number of newly purchased refrigerators to continue to decline, and that the trade-in replacement policy for 2010-2011 advanced overdue replacement of this market. demand. "2011's trade-in' product sales accounted for 30% of the total sales of the primary market, 'home appliances to the countryside' product sales accounted for 60% of the total sales of the secondary market, and now these two policies are terminated, one is about to end, sales of refrigerators The impact is very great."

“Perhaps we are accustomed to high growth, so we feel that the market conditions in 2012 are very poor, but in fact if you take the market situation in April 2012 and compared to November 2011, the gap is not significant.” Boxi Household Appliances (China Wang Weiqing, vice president of the company, told reporters that "since various stimulus policies have been withdrawn, market conditions in 2012 could be seen as a correction after the policy overdraft demand, which is basically in line with our expectations for the whole year at the beginning of the year."

Wang Jianguo, president of Midea Refrigeration Division, believes that the overall performance of the primary and secondary refrigerators in 2012 is stable. Although affected by factors such as the macro economy and the real estate market, the overall decline was modest. Instead, in the 3rd and 4th markets, with the exit of the "three provinces and one city" home appliances to rural areas such as Henan, Sichuan, Shandong and Qingdao, the demand for refrigerators has increased substantially. Decline. “The most popular product for home appliances to the countryside is refrigerators. In just three years, the penetration rate of rural refrigerators has increased from 20 per 100 households to about 60. The demand for overdrafts is extremely serious.”

Gan Yonghe, vice president of Hisense Kelon Electric Co., Ltd., also said that the refrigerator industry showed a general decline in 2012, and the decline in demand in the three or four-tier market was obviously an important reason. “Three provinces and one city” accounted for a large proportion of sales of refrigerators and appliances to the countryside, and in 2012, sales of home appliances to the countryside in the rest of the country were also weak. “But we can feel that the overall market is gradually recovering.”

According to industry analysts, the national economic environment has not improved, the development of the real estate market has stagnated, the government’s policy overdrafts have been severe, and the three or four-tier market, which is an important support for rapid development, has been sluggish. As a result, the domestic market for refrigerators has been bleak and the industry has been under tremendous pressure.