Aurubis Nears Completion of U.S. Copper Scrap Expansion Project

According to the latest monthly industry chain summary data released by ChinaIOL, in April 2026, market performance diverged significantly across the four major sectors—HVAC, home appliances, refrigeration and freezing, and supply chain. The air conditioning industry chain declined across the board MoM and showed mixed performance YoY, while most home appliance and refrigeration/freezing products displayed solid growth momentum. In terms of domestic sales and exports, export performance was generally better than domestic sales.

In 2026, China's central air conditioning industry entered a new phase of development. According to ChinaIOL data, overall industry sales in Q1 reached 36.73 billion yuan, edging up 1.5% YoY, of which domestic sales amounted to 29.63 billion yuan, a YoY decline of 2.1%. Among the sub-segments, traditional real estate and public construction scenarios continued to cool, while professional temperature control and emerging computing power tracks rose rapidly. The competitive logic of the industry is shifting from scale expansion to value deepening.

ChinaIOL data show that in April 2026, household air conditioner exports continued a pattern of synchronous weakening in volume and price, with the overall market still under pressure. Exports for the month were 9.655 million units, down 9.6% YoY; export value was $1.74 billion, down 14.4% YoY; and the average price was $180.7, down 5.3% YoY. The decline in average export price was driven by, on one hand, the export product mix leaning towards more affordable models, and on the other hand, the significant contraction in exports to the high-priced Middle East market, with the proportion of high-priced orders pulling back, jointly dragging down the overall unit export price.