"My cat is usually quite aloof and always keeps her distance," she told Beijing Review, "This is the first time in three years she's come to lie next to me. She is cold too."
The 30-year-old homebody had never thought she would one day need an electric blanket, something she only saw at her grandparents' home. The item has become much sought-after this year as a solution to the long, cold winter in Europe in case of energy insecurity in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict. Some young people in Europe, after recently using one for the first time, hailed them as a "life saver in winter" on social media.
The heating chain
Similar items include electric heaters, electric hot water bottles and other small appliances that are cheap and don't require much energy to heat are also hot in Europe. The high demand in Europe has triggered a ramp up of production in China, the major country producing these appliances.
Niu Rushe, the 67-year-old founder of Beijiren Electric Appliance Co. Ltd. in Xinle, a county-level city in Hebei Province, said it was the first time in his over-three-decade career as a producer of electric blankets to see such a sharp increase in orders from overseas.
The company launched its first production line of electric blankets in 1984 and, 19 years later, it became one of the earliest exporters of the blankets in the north of China. Now, over 95 percent of its electric blankets sell overseas, with Europe being its major market. In previous years, overseas customers placed their orders by April and production ran until the end of September to complete the orders. But this year, the orders continued to flow in after April, pushing the company to increase production.
"Since July, we've had to work extra hours to catch up with the pile of orders," Niu said. "Last year, we sold about 1 million blankets. This year, the number has already exceeded 1.5 million."
A dealer of electric blankets, surnamed Zhu, in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, also sensed the changes in the market. During a recent interview with China Central Television, she said this year she received her first ever orders from Europe after more than two decades in the trading business. "It was a surprise as I've never targeted the European market," she said.
Liu Jiwen, a manager at Ningbo Efu Appliance Co. Ltd., has been receiving more and more orders from both old and new customers since April. "Many customers placed urgent orders without requesting samples in advance," he said.
Earlier this year, Liu's peers in south China sensed demand would increase in Europe, as the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has destabilized Europe's energy supply.
In anticipation of the increasing European demand, producers in Shunde, a county-level city in Foshan, Guangdong Province and a base of heating appliance production in China, began preparing in April and sped up production in May.
The energy supply situation in Europe only worsened over the following months. The price of gas and electricity has continued to set new records, especially after the Nord Stream 1, Russia's largest gas pipeline to Europe, was closed in early September after a number of leaks were found in it.
Some countries postponed the start of public heating supply and have advised consumers to only heat their homes once inside temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius. French President Emmanuel Macron wore a turtleneck in early October to replace the traditional shirt and tie as a sartorial reminder to keep warm during the coming harsh winter.
That, coupled with a colder winter, a phasing out of coal and a bad year for wind power production, has made the situation even worse. Europeans are reportedly coping with the cold by sourcing heating equipment from world manufacturers.
The heating effects
Companies producing heating appliances have seen an upturn in business since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The sharp surge in demand this year is unprecedented. Data from AliExpress, a Chinese international e-commerce platform, shows that the search volume for the terms "sweater/pullover" and "electric blanket" rose by over 12 times in September.
The heat has been felt in the financial market. Caihong Group, an exporter of electric blankets in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, has seen its stock price rise by the daily limit of 10 percent eight times since September 20.
Statistics from the customs authorities of Guangdong show that from June to August, the value of heating appliances exported from Foshan to European Union countries equaled to about 94 million yuan ($13.12 million), an increase of 154.4 percent from the previous year.
To support these companies in accessing the growing European market, the customs authorities in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, established a green lane to reduce clearance times and an information service to help exporters navigate the legal issues of destination countries in Europe.
Some in the industry, including Xiao Zhijun, a manager at Yijia Home Appliance Co. in Zhongshan, Guangdong, have taken a sober attitude to the dizzying heights of European demand. Xiao regards the growth in European demand as a short-term craze. "It is more like a temporary need as European countries will find ways to deal with the energy crisis," he said.
The short-termness of the craze has been reflected in the stock market. After surging for several days in succession, the stock price of Caihong Group began to fall.
"Consumers in Europe bought these small heating appliances from China more for their low prices, which cater to low-income groups," Xiao said. "This has brought limited profits for manufacturers as the price of the raw materials has also increased over the past few years."
Low profits have also limited the budgets manufacturers are allocating to research and development, which is no good for long-term progress, he added.
Some larger producers are already taking action to address this problem. Electrical appliance manufacturing giant Midea Group has begun building a heat pump manufacturing base in Italy, which is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2024. With an investment of 60 million euros ($58.3 million), the base will have production lines, support facilities and a research and development center.
"We are committed to building it into a research and development center for Europe and develop more products tailored to European consumers," said Cheng Lin, a manager from Midea Group.
(Print Edition Title: Heating Up)
