Looking at 2020 trend, Cheaa, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, highlights that the outbreak of coronavirus dealt a heavy blow to the off-line market of China’s refrigerator industry, while boosted overseas demand to a huge high. «The outbreak of coronavirus in the first two months of 2020 put refrigerator industry as well as suppliers throughout the supply chain on hold. – they explain from the Association -. In February, pessimism loomed over the industry with a multitude of tough issues ahead such as production resumption, supply and logistics. Haier and Midea, two frontrunners of the industry, both suffered a struggling work resumption as they both have a refrigerator factory located in Wuhan, the then epicenter. In this context, refrigerator output fell by nearly 30% in Q1, hitting a historic low, based on what I learned from multiple sources».
The situation changed in the following 9 months, when with coronavirus effectively contained domestically, refrigerator manufacturers fully resumed work and production to meet the pent-up domestic demands and the delayed overseas orders. «Meanwhile, as the pandemic got worse across the world, overseas demands for refrigerators rose. With overseas refrigerator manufacturers struggling to resume production, China provided steady supply of refrigerators. To meet the rising overseas demand, the production schedule of refrigerators has been very tight in H2 2020.»
