China's air conditioning industry has been stabilizing in 2015 after a peak in sales volume in 2014, and there won't be too much room for further growth in the coming years, said Liu Daren, general manager of the Air Conditioning Environment Business Department of All View Consulting on Thursday.
Under high inventory, price war will continue in the coming one to two years. As the age of extensive growth past, manufacturers will attach greater significance to refinement and the appearance of products, said Liu.
In terms of listed companies, Gree Electric Appliances (000651.SZ) posted business income of 50.11 billion yuan in the first half of this year, down 13.4 percent year on year; the net profit attributable to shareholders inched up 0.05 percent to 5.72 billion yuan.
Included were 41.99 billion yuan by business revenue of air conditioning products, down 17.22 percent year on year. It was the first time in six years that Gree Electric Appliances reported business revenue drop since 2009.
Qingdao Haier (600690.SH) gained business revenue of 41.92 billion yuan in the first half year, down 10.81 percent year on year; business revenue of Hisense Kelon Electrical Holdings (000921.SZ) dropped 11.01 percent; the business income of Jiangsu Chunlan Refrigerating Equipment Stock (600851.SH) plunged 58.04 percent.
Liu said that in comparison with other home appliance categories, air conditioner is a semi-finished product that needs to be installed, manufacturers showed great concern over the online sales channels.
In addition, price war of air conditioners will intensify further. After several rounds of price wars, profit of inverter air conditioners was meager, but with regard to the costs, the prices could go down further and the price war will be fiercer at the beginning of cold year 2016.
The industry anticipates similar sales of air conditioners in 2016 as in 2015, but the overall sales value next year is expected to be four percent lower than this year because of price war.
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