Home appliance export confidence index rebounded in the first quarter

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the growth of household electrical appliance exports continued to weaken, with most products entering the traditional off-season and the volume of exports fell slightly compared with the same period of last year. According to the report of the “China's Household Appliances Export Prosperity Index in the Fourth Quarter of 2011” recently published by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products and Industry Online, in the first quarter of 2012, the confidence index of air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, and microwave ovens rose. The report also shows that the four-industry appliance industry's comprehensive prosperity index for the same period and the first quarter of 2012 confidence index are both "normal" interval values, of which the overall prosperity index is 93.34, and the confidence index for the first quarter of the air conditioner and refrigerator freezer products is slightly higher. It is 118.75 and 115.19 respectively.

The air conditioning confidence index has increased significantly. In the fourth quarter of 2011, the four sub-industries' prosperity indices of home appliances all performed generally. Only the washing machine industry was generally better than the benchmark value; the air-conditioner, refrigerator freezer, and microwave oven industries were generally worse than the benchmark values. For the first quarter of 2012, the export confidence index of the four sub-sectors exceeded the average and performed well. Among them, the confidence index of air conditioners and refrigerator freezers showed an improvement, which was higher than the benchmark values ​​of 18.75 and 15.19 percentage points respectively.

The report shows that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the volume of refrigerator freezers, washing machines and microwave ovens showed an increase compared to the same period of last year, with an increase of between 2% and 20%. Exports of air conditioners decreased by approximately 37.1% year-on-year. Affected by the weather and the release of overseas market demand in 2010, the export of air conditioners was strong and showed explosive growth. In 2011, facing the global economic turmoil and the continuous increase in costs, exchange rates and profit pressures, the overall performance of the air-conditioning export market was sluggish.

For the first quarter of 2012, export expectations, taking into account the current economic environment and seasonal factors, air conditioning, refrigerator freezer, washing machine and microwave confidence index is generally good, including air conditioning and refrigerator freezer confidence, both higher than the benchmark value of 15 percentage points . The instability of the global economic situation, the cost pressure brought by rising raw material prices, and the slowdown in demand in the end consumer market have made the profitability of home appliance companies face a severe test.

The company began to attach importance to the construction of its own brand. From the analysis of the survey indicators, in the fourth quarter of 2011, the indicators with the index of the 8 indicators above the benchmark value were invested in total foreign trade and marketing expenses, and the remaining indicators were all lower than the benchmark values, especially the private brand ratio and manufacturing cost improvement climate index. , about 30 percentage points below the benchmark value. At the same time, the new export orders index fell slightly from the previous quarter, and the manufacturing costs from raw materials, labor costs, and product upgrades remained high, and the profitability of the industry was not good.

In the first quarter of 2012, the confidence indexes of the eight indicators were higher than the benchmark values ​​for new export orders, export prices, private label ratios, profitability, and marketing expenses. The export prices, private label ratios, and marketing expenses were all three. Large indicators are higher. The expected increase in export prices shows that the industry adjusts its prices in response to factors such as exchange rates and manufacturing costs. Profitability, private label ratios, and marketing expenses show that companies are aware of the importance of private labels and are paying attention to them. Build your own brand. However, brand building is not a simple process and requires companies to invest a lot of marketing expenses. Among the three key indicators: new export orders, total foreign trade, and manufacturing cost improvement, the confidence index of the new export orders index performed the best; the total amount of foreign trade indicators fell slightly month-on-month; the pressure of manufacturing costs remained, and effective measures needed to be taken to improve.

Industry confidence rebounded. The report also shows that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the domestic-funded enterprises of air-conditioners, refrigerators, and microwave ovens were slightly higher than foreign-funded enterprises. Regarding the export situation of the home appliance industry in the first quarter of 2012, domestic and foreign-funded enterprises have more consistent judgments, but domestic-funded enterprises are expected to be more optimistic and more confident than foreign-funded enterprises. In terms of specific products, the confidence index of domestic companies in air-conditioners and microwave ovens was higher than foreign investment in the first quarter, while the confidence of domestic companies in refrigerators and washing machines in the first quarter was slightly lower than that of foreign-funded enterprises. Affected by the fluctuation of RMB exchange rate and other factors, the profit rate of home appliance enterprises in exports has been significantly reduced. The cost pressure brought by the increase in raw materials has made many domestic and foreign-owned home appliance companies perform evenly in 2011. At the same time, optimizing the product structure and increasing the added value of products will gradually become the new entry point for foreign-funded enterprises seeking profits in 2012.