Europe faces an extreme heatwave of 46℃, witnessing how China's air conditioning industry chain rushes to provide emergency support
In late June, a rare and extreme heatwave swept across the entire European continent. The outdoor temperature in Paris exceeded 45°C, the highest temperature in Spain soared to 46°C, and many places in Germany successively broke the century-old temperature records. On June 27 alone, nearly 200 million European people were trapped in the sweltering heat above 35°C.
The penetration rate of air conditioners in European households has been low for a long time, with an overall rate of only 20%. In Northern Europe, it is less than 5%, and in Germany, it is as low as 3%. Driven by the extreme heatwave, the market demand exploded concentratedly, and there was an obvious gap between supply and demand of air conditioners in Europe in the short term.
Unable to bear the high temperature, European families completely lost their composure. Chinese air conditioners were in short supply in Europe, and the sales of major well-known brands increased sharply. There was even an unprecedented phenomenon of scalpers reselling in the air conditioner sales market. The official price of Midea's PortaSplit non - installation split air conditioner in Germany is 699 to 900 euros. After the product was out of stock, it was hyped up to 1,500 to 5,000 euros by scalpers, with the highest price premium exceeding 7 times.
Data shows that in the first half of 2026, the sales volume of Midea's air conditioners in Europe increased by more than 70%. Haier's market share in Eastern Europe reached 34%, ranking first. GREE's terminal sales volume in France increased by 50% year - on - year, and all mobile air conditioners were sold out. Changhong's shipments to Europe from January to May have reached a new high.
Chinese air conditioner enterprises can quickly fill the gap and undertake orders, not simply relying on the weather dividend, but the inevitable advantage brought by years of industrial precipitation.
The short - term explosion of orders has also driven a chain reaction in the relevant industrial chain, and the most direct impact is on the logistics industry. Facing the surging orders, Chinese enterprises quickly adjusted their cross - border logistics solutions.
In this practical test of supporting the European market, the Chinese air conditioner industrial chain has handed in a satisfactory answer. After this battle, domestic home appliance enterprises are more determined to deepen their overseas localization layout, and at the same time, they have also discovered new growth opportunities for the cross - border logistics track.
Under extreme high temperatures, the European air conditioner industrial chain is in full emergency
Why is the penetration rate of air conditioners in Europe, where developed countries are concentrated, always at a low level?
From a climate perspective, affected by the long - term mild and cool weather, European people generally do not have the habit of consuming cooling products, and the penetration rate of air conditioners in households has been only 20% for a long time.
From the aspects of cost and installation, multiple barriers further restrict the popularization of air conditioners. Firstly, there is the building review barrier: a large number of century - old buildings in Europe prohibit punching holes in the outer walls, so traditional split air conditioners cannot be installed. If the house is located in a historical protection area, a plan needs to be submitted to the town hall and approved by an architect, and the process can take weeks or even months.
Secondly, the high labor cost is a factor. The installation cost of air conditioners generally reaches two to three times the price of the machine, making household air conditioners almost a semi - luxury item. The total cost of installation can exceed 7,000 euros at most, which is a heavy burden for ordinary families.
Finally, there is the usage scenario barrier: most tenants can hardly get the landlord's permission to install air conditioners, and the air conditioners cannot be taken away when moving. The high sunk cost further suppresses the civilian demand for cooling products.
European people generally do not have the habit of consuming air conditioners, and the penetration rate of air conditioners in households has been only 20% for a long time. European local home appliance brands have long ignored the cooling demand of the mass residential market, and traditional air conditioner products cannot adapt to the local living scenarios, forming an obvious market vacuum, which also provides a valuable opportunity for Chinese home appliance enterprises to achieve a breakthrough in differentiated overseas expansion.
The sudden extreme heatwave has completely exposed the structural shortcomings of the European cooling industry. The local production capacity and supporting capabilities are seriously insufficient, and the market gap can only be filled by imports.
On June 30, Braillard, the mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France, personally purchased a batch of Haier air conditioners for the schools in his district because the municipal government had not taken any substantial heat - prevention measures for a long time.
In this regard, Liu Buchen, a senior observer in the home appliance industry, pointed out that although the explosion of the European air conditioner market this year is obviously driven by extreme weather, the growth logic of the industry is breaking away from the single climate - driven model. In the future, even without extreme high temperatures, more and more European families will actively purchase air conditioners to hedge against the risk of high temperatures in advance and avoid the passive situation of out - of - stock products and delayed installation during the peak season.
Chinese air conditioner enterprises urgently fill the gap: the localization strategy works
It seems to be a weather dividend, but in fact, it is a well - prepared move. Before the extreme weather arrived, Chinese leading air conditioner enterprises had been deeply involved in Europe for many years.
In the past, when domestic home appliances went overseas, the common practice was to seize emerging overseas markets by offering low prices, changing plugs and voltages, and making basic mold modifications. Now, Chinese enterprises no longer rely on price wars to open up the market. Instead, they redefine cost - effectiveness as a comprehensive value advantage with systematic industrial capabilities and develop overseas markets with products that are suitable for the local market.
As the Chinese enterprise with the earliest global layout, Haier has established an industrial park and local production capacity in Europe. In the first half of 2025, Haier achieved sales revenue of 17.995 billion yuan in the European market, a year - on - year increase of 24.07%. Its market share in the German air conditioner market reached 22.4%, ranking second. After acquiring Candy in Italy, it has a solid foundation in channels and services. (Related reading: Haier Smart Home's transformation continues to show results, and the net profit margin reaches a record high!)
Midea has launched the localization strategy of "In Europe, for Europe", and the PortaSplit, specially designed for the European market, emerged. It does not require punching holes and can be installed by oneself in ten minutes. This product was included in the "Best Inventions of the Year" list by Time magazine in 2025, and its shipments exceeded 200,000 units in 2026, doubling compared with last year.
Changhong's growth in Europe is obvious to all. From January to May 2026, Changhong's cumulative shipments and sales scale in Europe have reached a new high, with a strong growth momentum. Recently, many channel merchants have run out of stock, and are urgently responding to market demand through methods such as peripheral allocation. Behind this achievement is Changhong's strategic deepening in the European market. The enterprise has continuously increased its investment in air conditioner projects for the European market, comprehensively deployed products with the highest energy efficiency grades of A+++ and A++, pre - positioned for the new EU ecological design regulations in July 2026, completed the comprehensive upgrade of the electronic control system, and implemented the strategic core product platform project. The relevant products were officially launched in June 2026, continuously consolidating its competitiveness in the European market.
Changhong's practice fully shows that to seize market share in the European market, it is no longer about relying on low prices to boost sales, but about competing in the comprehensive strength of an enterprise, such as organizational ability, product definition ability, and compliance response ability. (Related reading: AWE2025 on - site: Changhong's home appliances are fully AI - enabled, reshaping the user value - oriented life)
It can be seen that Chinese air conditioner enterprises have built an independent and controllable system for the entire industrial chain integrating R & D, manufacturing, logistics, and channels. At present, China's air conditioner production accounts for 80% of the world's total, and its compressor production accounts for 90% of the world's total, with a solid industrial foundation. Facing the explosive order demand in Europe, Midea actively abandoned traditional sea transportation and switched to China - Europe Railway Express transportation, reducing the logistics time from 30 to 45 days to 15 to 25 days. This efficient supply chain turnover ability and market response speed are the core competitive barriers during the peak season of industry demand.
Yang Chao, the deputy general manager of the large home appliance division of AVC, introduced that although the overall export of air conditioners in China is showing a downward trend this year, the performance of the European market has unexpectedly become a highlight. Affected by the continuous high temperature in Europe, the local consumers' demand for cooling equipment has increased significantly. Moreover, the high temperature weather this year has a longer time span, which may break the consumers' original psychological expectations of use and further stimulate the growth of demand. Although it is difficult to accurately quantify the driving effect of the European market on the overall export, the growth rate of the European market is relatively prominent against the background of overall pressure on exports.
This breakthrough in the European market marks a complete iteration of the overseas expansion model of domestic home appliances. The industry has got rid of the low - price and extensive competition and relies on a complete set of product solutions adapted to the local market to seize overseas markets with comprehensive strength.
Chinese air conditioners bring coolness from afar, and cross - border logistics provides support for capacity and cost
This concentrated explosion of air conditioner orders in Europe tests not only the products and production capacity of air conditioner enterprises but also the comprehensive pressure - bearing and rapid adaptation ability of the entire overseas expansion industrial chain.
As the core hub connecting factories and overseas markets, cross - border logistics is the most strained and crucial supporting link in this round of hot sales. The explosion of market demand and the delivery of orders ultimately depend highly on the efficient operation and rapid response of the logistics chain.
Cainiao, which has been quietly deepening its cross - border fulfillment business, has played a crucial role in the process of Chinese air conditioner brands' supporting the European market.
According to public reports, the outbound volume of mobile air conditioners from Cainiao's overseas warehouses in Europe has increased by nearly 18 times, and it has focused on intelligent home appliances and large - sized products as key categories.
In response to the hot sales of home appliances in Europe, Cainiao has continuously increased its local fulfillment capabilities. On June 30, Cainiao announced that its 28 overseas warehouses in Europe have continuously opened up warehouse space for air conditioner enterprises and launched next - day delivery services. These overseas warehouses cover core European markets such as the UK, Germany, France, and Spain. Cross - border merchants and brands can stock up locally, and the products can be delivered to consumers in as fast as 2 to 3 days.
Relying on its perfect global logistics layout, Cainiao has the ability to provide high - certainty, one - stop full - link cross - border services. When interviewed by Wall Street Tech Eye, Cainiao introduced in detail its entire set of operational capacity building systems: its core advantage lies in the one - stop, flexible, and high - certainty full - link services. At the same time, through multi - dimensional resource layout, it ensures the stable and efficient operation of the logistics chain during the peak season.
According to the information disclosed in this interview, Cainiao has established a dual guarantee system in the core logistics links: in terms of international trunk lines, it ensures the certainty of the trunk lines by locking in air cargo space; in terms of overseas warehouse operations, it relies on its self - operated warehousing system to fully guarantee the stability of warehouse and distribution operations.
Specifically in the full - link operation, Cainiao has achieved capacity coverage in all links including the first leg, trunk line, and terminal delivery to the warehouse: in the first leg link, Cainiao provides container trucking services for collection at 21 ports across the country and more than 130 surrounding cities.
Interestingly, at the international trunk line end, in terms of sea transportation, it can flexibly provide LCL and FCL services, and use AI algorithms for intelligent container consolidation to help customers control costs; in terms of air transportation, it has the locked cargo space resources of strategic airline partners to ensure that goods will not be rejected during the peak season. In 18 countries and regions around the world, Cainiao also provides delivery services from ports to overseas warehouses.
It's not just Cainiao that relies on full - link fulfillment capabilities to guarantee the timeliness of Chinese goods going overseas. The domestic home appliance overseas logistics system is undergoing a comprehensive upgrade. The railway trunk line capacity is continuously supplementing sea transportation, forming a diversified and efficient cross - border transportation pattern.
On June 10, home appliances from the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area were exported to the Eurasian market for the first time through the regular China - Europe Railway Express. The overall delivery time was controllable, and the intact rate of the goods was over 99.9%. According to the report of China State Railway Group, from January to May 2026, a total of 15,506 China - Europe (Asia) freight trains were operated, a year - on - year increase of 12.6%. Among them, 9,331 China - Europe freight trains were operated, with a year - on - year increase of up to 21%. Customs in various places cooperate with railways and logistics platforms to promote the "railway express" model, and the port clearance time has been shortened to within 30 minutes. From sea transportation to railway transportation, from temporary trains to regular express trains, a cross - border supply chain from Chinese factories to European families is operating at high speed.
From Cainiao's overseas warehouse pre - stocking and full - process fulfillment guarantee to the continuous speed - up of the China - Europe Railway Express and efficient port clearance, the domestic cross - border supply chain to Europe has formed a mature and stable operation system. It can not only handle the sudden explosion of orders during the peak season but also ensure stable daily shipments. The efficient and flexible supply chain response ability is exactly the hard - core bonus for Chinese home appliance enterprises going overseas.
Years of hard work: Chinese enterprises pass the extreme stress test
As the sales of non - installation air conditioners increase, the demand for supporting services also rises accordingly. The service links such as accessories