(Yicai Global) Aug. 7 -- The Chinese home appliances market was weak in the first half, but sales of new products bucked the trend.

Sales of dryers may exceed 500,000 units this year, up 70 percent from 2018, a growth rate that will be about 20 times that of domestic washing machine sales, according to a forecast by AVC.

The dryer market has performed better than expected, said Yang He, research director of the white goods department at AVC, a big data platform in the smart home sector.

Dryer sales jumped 80 percent to CNY880 million (USD125 million) in the first six months, with shipments surging 95 percent to 211,000 units and the average selling price falling 7 percent to CNY4,192 (USD595).

The number of domestic dryer brands jumped to 51 in the first half from 35 in the same period last year, Yang said. Aucma, Skyworth, TCL and other companies are also keen to enter the sector and take market share as soon as possible. This has triggered a new round of competition.

BSH Home Appliances laid the foundation for its dryer and washing machine plant in Chuzhou, Anhui province, in May, which is scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2021.

BSH dominates the Chinese dryer market, but competition will likely attract more players, like domestic washing machine giants Haier and Midea. Samsung, meanwhile, is targeting the high-end market while Aucma, TCL, and Skyworth are aiming for the mid- and low-end market.