China air conditioning market set for good recovery in 2021November 2020

In 2020, under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall economy of China suffered setbacks, and all industries were affected to varying degrees. China’s air conditioning industry was hit hard in the first quarter. However, the market started to recover in the second quarter and the signs of recovery in the second half of the year are still promising. Overall, the total market is expected to decline throughout the year in 2020. BSRIA predicts that the sales volume of the China PAC market will see a year-on-year decline of about 11%, while the sales value of the CPAC market will post a year-on-year decline around 5%.

The market is expected to see a healthy rebound in 2021. New energy efficiency standards, officially implemented on the 1st July 2020, are among key factors that will keep boosting the market for domestic air conditioning. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, consumers' health awareness has grown significantly and the popularity of healthy air conditioning with functions such as fresh air purification, self-cleaning, PM 2.5, sterilisation, dust removal, humidification, and oxygen content improvement have increased in the domestic air conditioning market.

The commercial air conditioning market, where hospitality and entertainment industries have been impacted most significantly in the first quarter of the year, saw the trend reverting in the second quarter of 2020, when the construction of large-scale projects resumed. With government support available for commercial and industrial markets, the commercial AC segment is expected to post a more dynamic growth than the residential market.