China: boom in electric blanket exports to Europe
An electric blanket (Illustrative image).
© Flickr CC BY ND 2.0 HS You
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The approach of winter in Europe has unexpected consequences in China.
Europeans fear they will be cold this winter because of the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine.
However, Chinese factories also manufacture comfort items, such as electric blankets, and they are running at full capacity.
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With our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
According to figures from Yiwu Customs in southeastern China, between January and August 2022, this "workshop of the world" market city saw its exports of air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters and electric blankets increase by 41.6% year-on-year.
According to traders interviewed by
China Central Television,
orders from Europe have risen sharply since
the war in Ukraine
and the energy crisis.
Exporter based in Yiwu, Mario relativizes, it is also the onset of winter, according to him which explains the phenomenon: “
I want blankets, but they are not heated.
They are normal.
I sent two containers.
Every year, when winter arrives, they sell it on the cheap markets.
They sell them by the kilo so the price is low.
»
Towards an adaptation of manufacturers to demand?
“
Afterwards, the Chinese quickly recycle.
If there is one thing that works, they bounce back very quickly to something else,
describes the exporter.
When the world ran out of masks, all Chinese factories started selling masks.
» An adaptation to the market which is currently being done on electric blankets, but also on articles related to the Football World Cup.
According to state media, factories in the city of Cixi, on the east coast, show for their part 1.29 million electric blankets exported in July to the twenty-seven countries of the European Union.
That's a 15% increase from 2020.
►Also read: In the United Kingdom, will we run out of electricity this winter?
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