(Yicai Global) April 13 -- China’s home air conditioner manufacturers are sharpening their sales pitches as the peak season of summer approaches and are turning to ‘fresh air’ models and better services to compete for market share amid a big jump in prices.

The average price of an air conditioning unit is between 15 percent and 20 percent more than it was in February due to the surging cost of raw materials and the operational difficulties brought about by the new wave of Covid-19, Gan Jianguo, general manager of Guangdong Meibang Electric Appliance, told Yicai Global. Despite this, good sales are expected in May and prices could still rise another 5 percent from what they are now.

Gree hiked the price of low-end units by up to CNY200 (USD31.4) on April 1, but left the price of mid- to high-end units unchanged, a store manager for the aircon giant said. It is trying to attract customers with services, such as a 50 percent discount on air conditioner cleaning.

Fresh-air air conditioners, which circulate outside air with the air in the room, have become popular as people become more health conscious, Gan said.

There were 123 fresh-air aircon models for sale last year, up from 26 in 2019, as many brands including Midea, Gree, Haier and TCL climbed on the bandwagon. Online sales revenue soared six-fold last year from 2020 to CNY820 million (USD128.7 million) and sales through brick-and-mortar outlets jumped 57.4 percent to CNY1.9 billion.

China’s scheduled air conditioner production for April is 5.4 percent more than last year’s output for the same period, according to market research platform ChinaIOL.com. And that for the local market is 14.9 percent higher than the actual amount produced last year. This short-term growth is mainly driven by the approaching peak season.

Consumer appliance maker AVC is predicting good growth this year, with a 9 percent leap in revenue from last year to CNY166.5 billion (USD26.1 billion) and an 8 percent jump in sales to 50.5 million units. This is compared with a 1.2 percent year-on-year dip in revenue in 2021 and a 8.7 percent drop in sales.

The price of commodities such as steel, aluminum, plastic and copper is not much different from the previous quarter earlier, Xiao Youyuan, chairman of Sanyou Technology, told Yicai Global. But compressor manufacturers have increased prices by three to five percentage points, and the cost of electronic material imports may rise amid global uncertainties.

The recent coronavirus outbreaks are not helping matters either. Some vendors cannot deliver air conditioners to areas affected by Covid-19, Xiao said.

Editor: Kim Taylor