Not long ago, the major domestic appliance manufacturer of steel - Wuhan Iron and Steel published price programs, a variety of home appliances using silicon steel, galvanized sheet have different levels of price increases. The new round of international iron ore prices soared,glue stick has also led to the continuing rise in steel price trends in the appliance industry that caused a tremendous ripple effect.
Steel is an important raw material production of white goods. Refrigerator, washing machine cabinet, air conditioning, outdoor machines and air-conditioning, refrigerator compressor housing is the main material of steel, to steel, plastic raw material costs as the key representative of total machine cost at least 1 / 3.glue gun According to the China Household Electrical Appliances Association data show that in 2006 China's home appliance industry has reached 5.3 million tons of steel demand, by 2010, this figure will rise to 630 million tons. According to industry estimates, steel prices rose 15%, the cost of the impact of air conditioners and refrigerators will be around 1.5%, while the cost of washing machines in about 3.8%.
Have been facing difficulties for some industries, the steel prices is undoubtedly worse. Take air-conditioning industry, the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis, the country's macro-control policy implemented this year, since the beginning of summer rains have made the South continued to be greatly affected sales season this year. In particular, the threshold for energy efficiency upgrades next year, has been a virtual certainty, air-conditioning products for standards, costs will rise by 30%. Enterprises to reduce the upstream is nothing more than a little bit, themselves a little bit, add a little upstream and downstream, while the prices of steel and other raw materials, product pricing air next year will undoubtedly face enormous pressure.
However, cost pressures increasing, but the price of home appliances rose difficult, because the market is extremely competitive, vicious competition, price wars, etc. have occurred, no one worry about the loss of lead to market price increases lightly.
One side is the cost of raw materials prices rise, one side is the cruel reality that companies can not lightly market prices. To reduce costs, find new profits, companies have focused its attention in the materials will be replaced on the timber that the product actively seeking alternatives to steel. Such as the drum washing machine using cold-rolled plate housing a large number of phosphate powder, binoculars all popular presses-type washing machines, refrigerators back some alternative use of other materials such as galvanized sheet. According to the recent Consumer Electronics Association in Guangdong, east, north and so the status of household electrical appliance enterprises steel research results show that material substitution is very popular, although the total amount of steel appliance industry continues to grow, but the steel consumption of a single product dropped quickly. Overall, the steel industry has a larger use of air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens, refrigerators and washing machines in which the implementation of materials in recent years, alternative strategies, most products using plastic shell, the amount of steel is not used by the steel price increases The corresponding impact is also much smaller.
Chen Gang, deputy secretary general of China Household Electrical Appliances Association, pointed out that, for the business, the prices of raw materials brought in order to avoid a series of adverse effects of material substitution should be actively carried out the research, will reduce material consumption and cost savings as the current goal of the joint efforts of the industry .