Cailian News Agency, January 20th (Reporter Ren Chaoyu) On the eve of the Spring Festival, another major event happened in the air-conditioning industry. Haier Zhijia (600690.SH) officially announced that it will establish a compressor joint venture company with Haili Co., Ltd. (600619. SH). Some insiders told reporters that it has long been rumored that Haier has set up a compressor R&D center in Zhongshan in 2022.
The capital market has no high growth expectation for the air-conditioning industry, which is related to the obvious "stall" of the air-conditioning industry growth in recent years. The data shows that domestic air-conditioning shipments are negative year-on-year in 2019, 2020 and 2022. However, in addition to Haier Zhijia’s joint construction with Haili Co., Ltd., Philips Air Conditioning Production and Research Base was officially put into operation in December 2022.
What are the considerations for manufacturers to expand when the industry boom is down? Analysts told reporters that although the industry as a whole is in a periodic adjustment stage. In the long run, the potential demand is still great. Except Midea and Gree, the share of other enterprises is scattered, and there is still a big market in the middle and low end.
Haier Zhijia announced that it plans to jointly establish Zhengzhou Haili Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. (tentative name) with Haili Co., Ltd. in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, to engage in the rotor compressor business for household appliances. The registered capital is 200 million yuan, and Haier Air Conditioning and Haili Co., Ltd. respectively contribute 98 million yuan and 102 million yuan. Both shareholders, Haier Air Conditioning and Haili, hold 49% and 51% respectively.
According to the data provided by Industry Online to Cailian, in 2022, the production of household air conditioners was 148.369 million units, down 4.3% year-on-year; Sales reached 150.037 million units, down 1.7% year-on-year. Among them, domestic sales were 84.29 million units, down 0.5% year-on-year; Exports reached 65.747 million units, down 3.2% year-on-year.
In addition to Haier, in December 2022, Philips Air Conditioning Production and Research Base was officially put into operation.
It is reported that the total investment of this project is 10 billion yuan, which will be implemented in three phases. It is mainly used for research and development of Philips household air conditioners, large commercial air conditioners, compressors, motors and other supporting products. The first batch of air conditioners will be put into production, including R&D center, intelligent production workshop and automatic warehousing and logistics center, with the capability of self-research and self-production of air conditioners in the whole process. After the overall production, it is estimated that the annual output will reach 5 million sets of air conditioners.
For the industry downturn, some manufacturers have expanded their production capacity. Fang Xueqing, an industry online analyst, told reporters that the data shows that the supply of China market accounts for 80% of the world’s total, and the demand of China market accounts for more than 45% of the world’s total, which is relatively stable. Secondly, the diversity of domestic demand, a large number of white-brand enterprises have a lot of market share, and there is still room for new brands to invest more. The pattern of air-conditioning market in China leads to a relatively scattered share of other enterprises except Midea and Gree. As long as the giants do not price war, there is still a lot of room in the low-end market.
Yang Chao, product director of home appliances division of AVC, said in an interview that the current development of air-conditioning industry is mainly based on upgrading, and according to statistics of AVC, the demand for upgrading of air-conditioning industry will account for 59% in 2022. In recent years, affected by external factors, the air-conditioning industry as a whole is in the stage of periodic adjustment. In the long run, the potential demand is still great, no matter from the ownership of 100 households or the use of air-conditioning products, which is also the core reason for attracting new brands to settle in.
"The monitoring data of Aowei Cloud Network shows that the online and offline market share of Haier Air Conditioning increased significantly in 2022. Haier’s joint factory construction can solve the problem of supply chain stability. The air-conditioning industry itself has obvious seasonal characteristics, and there is a big difference in demand between light and peak seasons, and there is a shortage of goods in peak seasons. As the core component of air conditioning, the stable supply of compressor is a powerful weapon to maintain market competitiveness. More than that, in the fierce industry competition, the cost reduction in logistics and warehousing can also enhance its cost competitiveness and leave more business space for the market. The joint venture company in Zhengzhou Park has greatly improved the synergy between components and the whole machine, and the production efficiency will also be greatly improved. " Yang Chao said so.
According to the research report of Essence Securities, there is a certain gap between Haier’s income and profitability in the air-conditioning industry and the leading level in the industry. In 2022H1, the operating profit rate of Haier’s domestic air-conditioning business was 2.9%, while that of Midea’s HVAC division was 9.6%. Among them, the relatively low degree of supply chain integration is an important reason. The cooperation between Haier and Haili in the field of air-conditioning compressors is a key measure for Haier to enhance the competitiveness of air-conditioning business.
However, it is interesting to note that Haier chose to cooperate with Haili Co., Ltd., but its major shareholder is another home appliance giant, Gree Electric.
Wind data shows that as of the third quarter of 2022, air-conditioning giant Gree Electric holds 8.32% of the shares of Haili, ranking second. How to deal with the relationship with the two major home appliance giants is worthy of attention.
The reporter of Cailian Association asked Gree Electric about this, and the relevant person responded that the company had no position. The reporter called Haili shares, and the staff said it was not clear.
According to industry sources, it has long been rumored in this business, and Haier has set up a compressor R&D center in Zhongshan in 2022. The recruitment website shows that Haier does have relevant recruitment actions.
(Editor: Cao Yuchen)