HEA Producers Eye Rural, Int'l MarketsFor a saturated urban market household electrical appliance (HEA) producers in China have begun to turn their eyes on tapping a wide rural domestic market and international markets.According to a recent survey conducted by China Household Electrical Appliance Association (CHEAA) and other related central departments on HEA consumption among 22,500 urban families in 75 cities of 27 provinces and autonomous regions, 85.4 percent of urban families have refrigerators and 3.6 percent even have got two. Some 99.3 percent of urban families have TV sets, and every 100 families possess as many as 140 TV sets. As color TV sets have been accepted by absolute majorities of urban families, black and white TV sets have been eliminated basically, taking up only 4.3 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the cities have seen a soaring growth of consumption of purely even TV sets, which account for nearly 4 percent of the market currently. Data from the survey indicates that of all the urban families to buy TV sets, 53.4 percent will buy purely even TV sets and 1.1 percent the traditional. According to insiders with the CHEAA, Chinese HEA producers now are focusing on exploring the international and rural markets. The export volume of HEA products in 1999 and 2000 increased by 20 percent and 33 percent over the previous year respectively and a growth of 25 percent or a total export volume of US$7 billion is expected this year. Analysis shows but difficulty poses for HEA producers in China in exploiting the rural markets for Chinese farmers are found still handicapped with a low income and even not in the way to enjoy HEA in some areas. However there is a huge demand for HEA in well-off rural areas, especially in overlapping areas of cities and townships and small towns. By PD Online staff member Deng Gang |
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