The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the initiative to jointly build "the belt and road initiative". In the past ten years, the construction of "the belt and road initiative" has made brilliant achievements, and many domestic enterprises have taken the opportunity of jointly building "the belt and road initiative" to go overseas, and achieved good results, among which there are home appliance manufacturers.

"the belt and road initiative" is the abbreviation of "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", and the initiative to jointly build "the belt and road initiative" was put forward in 2013.

The proposal of "the belt and road initiative" has many meanings. Among them, in the economic aspect, the joint construction of "the belt and road initiative" can realize the intercommunication of "capital flow", "logistics", "information flow" and "people flow", thus promoting the economic development of countries along the route and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.

It is understood that among the countries along the "the belt and road initiative", the business of overseas branches and offices of Hisense Home Appliances (00921.HK) has covered 55 countries, accounting for 85 percent of the total countries along the route.

As a representative enterprise of home appliances going to sea, in June, the market share of Hisense TV in South Africa reached 40 percent , and the market share of Hisense refrigerator exceeded 30 percent .

According to the company, Hisense's market share in South Africa is between 20 percent and 30 percent , and it continues to occupy a leading position, reaching the first place in the industry in some months.

In the Middle East and Africa market with great potential, Hisense's ten-year compound growth rate reached 25.9 percent .

On the morning of March 15th, 2023 (local time), Haier Egypt Ecological Park held a groundbreaking ceremony in the 10th city of Ramadan in Egypt. It is reported that the total investment of the ecological park is 160 million US dollars, covering an area of 200,000 square meters. The first phase of this groundbreaking project mainly produces three types of products, such as air conditioners and washing machines, and will be put into operation in the first half of 2024. The second phase will mainly produce refrigerators and freezers, with a total design capacity of over one million units.

The AQUA brand of Haier Zhijia (600690.SH) has established a manufacturing base for refrigerators, washing machines (rollers and pulsators) and other products in Bianhe City, Tongnai Province, in which the washing machine factory has a construction area of 3,600 square meters. At present, AQUA Vietnam's washing machine market share ranks first in the local area.

In addition to Hisense Household Appliances (000921.SZ) and Haier Zhijia (06690.HK), Midea Group (000333.SZ) also has more than a dozen production bases in 9 countries including Vietnam and Egypt. Changhong Meiling (000521.SZ) also has Indonesian and Pakistani overseas manufacturing bases. In its 2022 annual report, the company said that the refrigerator (cabinet) industry will build a base through its own brand business and focus on developing the "the belt and road initiative" market; Wanhe Electric (002543.SZ), a kitchen and bathroom appliance company, will also invest in building a water heater factory in Egypt.

From the perspective of business proportion, relevant sources revealed that Skyworth's revenue in countries along the "the belt and road initiative" accounted for about 60 percent .

The data of Electromechanical Chamber of Commerce also shows that in the past ten years, the proportion of household appliances exports along the "the belt and road initiative" market in China's total household appliances exports has continued to grow, from 25 percent in 2013 to 31 percent in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the share reached 38.3 percent , a record high.

On the contrary, according to the data of the Chamber of Commerce for Electromechanical Industry, in the whole year of 2022, among the top 20 countries of China's household appliances export, the export volume to 11 developed countries such as the United States, Japan and South Korea dropped significantly, and the market declines in major European countries all exceeded 10 percent ; Relatively speaking, exports to Saudi Arabia, Viet Nam and other Middle East and ASEAN markets are still growing, while the Middle East and ASEAN are all located along the "the belt and road initiative".

For example, on July 24th, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting, which mentioned "timely adjusting and optimizing the real estate policy, making good use of the policy toolbox according to the city's policy" and "boosting the bulk consumption of automobiles, electronic products, homes and other services, and promoting the consumption of sports, leisure, cultural tourism and other services".

On July 21st, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued "Several Measures on Promoting the Consumption of Electronic Products", which proposed to continuously promote home appliances to the countryside. Conditional areas can give appropriate subsidies to green smart home appliances going to the countryside and replacing old ones with new ones, and give differentiated policy support according to product energy efficiency and water efficiency.