Regional Trends: 1. China

The increase of household income and the development of real estate is the motive force for the continuous development of the China AC market. According to the estimates by JARN, the AC sales set a new record in the 2004 refrigeration year (from Sep 2003 to Aug 2004). 20 million air conditioners were sold in the domestic market, an 11% increase compared with the 18 million units sold in the year 2003. The domestic sales volume in 2004 was 41 billion yuan, a 10.81% growth compared with the 37 billion in 2003. (Please see Fig.1-1)