Three EU Nations 'Buy Up' Five Haier Production LinesOverseas traders from Germany, France and Italy reached an agreement with Qingdao Haier Group late last month, under which they will buy up five of Haier air-conditioner production lines to produce MRV intelligence network family central air-conditioners, floride-free air-conditioners and Golden Marshall air-conditioners for them.Haier has respectively named the five production lines as "German line", "French line" and "Italian line", and has organized production in compliance with the different requirements of the three traders. Recently, various European countries have shown a special favor for Haier air-conditioners, traders in these countries have asked for increasing their orders for the products this year. Sales agents with 10 companies in France, Greece, and Spain have also demanded revising their orders signed last year for the sales of air-conditioners in 2000 by significantly increasing their purchasing volumes. At present, the sale volumes of Haier air-conditioners increase at a monthly rate of 41 percent on the EU market. The three traders of Germany, France and Italy thought out the idea of buying up the production lines for fear that the Haier air-conditioners would be out of stock. In recent years, to guarantee that its products enter the international market to meet the different needs of consumers across the world., Haier Group has set up 10 information stations abroad to make their products localized. In 1998, Haier exported a whole set of its frequency conversion technology to Spain, thus setting a precedent for Chinese household appliance enterprises to export technology overseas. Thus far, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and some other countries have brought in this technology of Haire and put it into local production. At present, 50 percent of Haier Group's air-conditioner output are exported overseas, and the other half are sold on the domestic market. Zhang Ruimin, president of Haier Group, said frankly that Haier is now faced with dual pressure from large quantities of exports and strong domestic needs. Haier, on the one hand, shortens its production process to raise the rate of production; on the other hand, it makes full use of the frequency conversion and commercial air-conditioners production base it set up and put into operation late last year in the Qingdao Economic and Technological Development Zone to quicken the pace of production. It is completely sure of its ability to meet the demands of both domestic and international markets. |
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