A worker checks electric heaters at a company in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 29, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Guobao)
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China sees robust growth in export of heating equipment this year due to increasing demand of heating products like heaters and electric blankets as winter comes and more cross-border e-commerce overseas warehouses available, expert says.
Expert also noted that China’s foreign trade is expected to maintain steady momentum of development under the supportive policies and stable supply.
-- Export of heating equipment surges greatly
“This year the company receives many added orders of heating equipment from the clients, with an increase of more than 100,000 units,” says Xu Songlie, general manager of Cixi Fuyun Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang Province. Xu is busy dealing with a new round of heater orders and calculating this year’s export volume.
“Last year, the export of heaters was in worth of about 160 million yuan while this year it is expected to exceed 200 million yuan, among which customers’ additional orders worth more than 20 million yuan.” Xu said.
Established in 2011, the company mainly focuses on the market of small electric heaters and developed different segment categories of electric heaters as core competitiveness to attract its main customers from European countries, according to Xu.
The same scene has also been spotted in south China’s Guangdong Province. As the new wave of demand rises in the European heating equipment market, home appliances enterprises in Foshan, Guangdong Province readjust the product structure and develop new products to balance the need.
From June to August, Foshan exported 94 million yuan of heating equipment such as electric water heaters, electric blankets and electric heaters to the EU countries, up 154.4 percent year on year, Guangzhou Customs statistics showed.
Since 2022, the exports of most household appliances to Europe have shown a downward trend. However, the increasing categories mainly include air conditioners, electric water heaters, electric heaters, electric blankets and hair dryers, showed the latest data released by China Household Electrical Appliances Association.
From January to July this year, the cumulative export volume of air conditioners, electric water heaters, electric heaters, electric blankets and hair dryers reached 1.99 billion, 130 million, 490 million, 33.4 million and 160 million U.S. dollars respectively. Among them, electric blankets export grew faster than the other categories with a year-on-year growth rate of 97 percent, the data showed.
In addition to the soaring demand for heating appliances, energy-efficient and low-carbon appliance enterprises are expected to further expand markets in Europe, according to China Household Electrical Appliances Association.
-- Expanded cross-border e-commerce warehouse storage capacity
Chinese electric heaters, electric blankets and other heating products are popular with European customers this year because of higher natural gas price affected by energy crisis in Europe as well as Chinese products' high quality and safety, said Xu.
China’s expanded cross-border e-commerce warehouse storage capacity is also a favorable factor for the robust sales of heating equipment in overseas market, expert says.
As a new form of foreign trade infrastructure, overseas warehouse provides comprehensive services such as storage, logistics, customs declaration and clearance, distribution, insurance, which can help enterprises avoid risks, shorten logistics time and cut dispatch costs.
In the face of rising sea freight prices, Singfun, an electric heater producer in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, contacted with the destination port in the U.S. in advance and transfered the goods into the overseas warehouses of Alibaba Group's logistics platform Cainiao, which greatly saved distribution time and boosted the global sales growth.
At present, China has overseas warehouses of more than 16 million square meters, 90 percent of which are distributed in markets in North America, Europe and Asia, shows statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
MOC has put forward eight policy measures to support the development of overseas warehouses together with relevant departments and these measures will be released soon, said Wang Shouwen, vice commerce minister and China international trade representative at the MOC.
-- Foreign trade expected to show resilience and growth potential
Driven by multiple factors, China's foreign trade is expected to remain resilient.
A new round of supportive policies and measures have been formulated to stabilize foreign trade and boost export growth, according to a latest report of China Center for National Accounting and Economic Growth of Peking University.
In mid-September this year, the container throughput of China’s eight major coastal hub ports increased 11.9 percent year on year, among which foreign trade grew 8.4 percent year on year, showed data released by the China Ports and Harbors Association.
"Entering September, the impact of typhoon weather and other factors weakened, which helped marginal recovery of exports. Exports are expected to show resilience and there is no need to be overly concerned about export performance," noted Zheshang Securities chief economist Li Chao.
Citic Securities research report states that the foreign trade container throughput of eight coastal hub ports will maintain a good growth momentum in the second half of September. Export growth is expected to pick up slightly in September to maintain around 10 percent.
Chen Lina, a researcher at Peking University's China Center for National Accounting and Economic Growth, expects China's exports to grow 8.5 percent in September from a year earlier, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous month.
(Edited by Tian Shenyoujia with Xinhua Silk Road, tianshenyoga0524@163.com)
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