2010 Sizzled in More Ways than One

After the Dubai debt shock of November 2009, a debt crisis erupted in the euro zone in early 2010, causing unforeseen setbacks to the fragile global economic recovery. Despite this, air conditioner demand still achieved significant expansion due to strong growth in emerging economies, particularly China and India, and extremely hot summer weather in many parts of the world. JARN estimates that the total global air conditioner market (RAC and PAC) in 2010 was 81.06 million units, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%. Of this, the Chinese and Indian markets both posted strong growth, with the former expanding to around 29.8 million units and the latter expanding 33% to 3.4 million units.