(Yicai) Oct. 17 -- The latest green and intelligent household appliances are on display at the ongoing China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, which is attracting a huge number of overseas buyers as Chinese manufacturers come up with new products to beat a depressed export market.

This year’s Canton Fair, now in its 134th year, is proving even more popular than last year and over 50,000 purchasers from more than 200 countries and regions took part on the first day of the event in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong province on Oct. 15.

Customers from Italy, Vietnam, Russia, Latin America as well as South Korea visited the Ecovacs Robotics booth to discuss pricing on the first day of the fair, said an insider at the Chinese cleaning robot maker.

“Ecovacs now has its own brand and is no longer a contract manufacturer. In the last two months, the Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu province-based firm has started supplying the global market,” he added.

Export orders for Chinese manufacturers have been dwindling this year due to suppressed demand in the US and EU. Overseas buyers are also trying to slash prices by between 8 percent and 10 percent because of the depreciation of the Chinese yuan and the drop in shipping costs.

To counter this, many of China’s white goods makers are turning to more green and intelligent products, as well as creating their own brands, to find new streams of revenue.

Green Upgrades

A number of foreign markets, including the EU, are on the hunt for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly devices. Although household appliances are not yet included in the EU’s newly released Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, in the long run they will be, a market insider said.

“By Jan. 1 next year, the standards for air conditioners in the EU will be higher,” said He Jianbin, deputy general manager at Jiangmen Posi Refrigeration Appliance.

Posi is already upgrading its products, and by the end of the year all of its new products will already meet the EU’s requirements for energy efficiency in 2026, He said.

Air conditioners in the EU are expected to all use the green R-290 refrigerant by 2027 and Chinese companies are getting ready for this, Bai Rongyao, assistant president of Gree Electric Appliances, told Yicai.

Aircons that use R-290 refrigerant will be about 10 percent more expensive than regular ones. As it will be the same for manufacturers all over the world, Chinese firms will remain competitive, he added.

Latest Trends

“Last year, heat pumps were popular in Europe but this year requirements have changed,” said an executive at Skyworth Air Conditioning Technology. Heat pumps now need to not only be able to cool rooms and act as water heaters but also need to heat floors, whereas last year they were only expected to just have the functions of cooling the air and heating water.

Skyworth debuted a solar air conditioner this year, and deliveries are expected to start next year. The Shenzhen-based firm is also developing software that will enable smart controls and will be bale to reduce aircon units’ energy consumption by between 10 percent and 20 percent.

In the first eight months, China’s white goods exports to the US slumped 16.1 percent from a year earlier, that to the 28 countries in the EU dipped 3 percent and that to countries in Oceania tumbled 14.1 percent, according to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.

Home appliance exports this year should be the same as last year or perhaps slightly less as exporters are still making progress despite the pressure, said Zhou Nan, secretary-general of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products’ home appliances branch.

Editor: Kim Taylor