Frequent occurrence of haze weather, high PM2.5 index, the air purifier market shows explosive growth. "The industry's high growth rate, low barriers to entry and lack of regulation have attracted a large number of domestic and foreign brands to join in, all wanting a piece of the action." Ruijing industry analyst liu jiangyuan recently told the huaxia times reporter.

Public data show that the indoor environmental protection market alone is expected to reach 100 billion yuan in the 12th five-year plan period, becoming an emerging force in the environmental protection industry. For those companies, dabbling in the clean air market is more like licking a sweet tooth: high gross margins of more than 50 per cent on one side, and a reshuffle of national standards on the other.

300% and 15%

It was smog that set off the air purifier market.

"Since the beginning of last year, the market for air purifiers has exploded." Liu jiangyuan, who has been keeping an eye on the air purifier market, told the newspaper that the sales volume of air purifiers surged to 2.4 million units in 2013, up 90.5% year-on-year from 2012.

In less than two years, air purifier brands have grown from more than 50 in 2012 to more than 200 this year. According to the online monitoring data of zhongyikang, there are 209 brands of air purifiers on the online market. Many air conditioning companies, including haier and hisense, have almost all announced their entry into the air purifier industry.

"The main reason is that air purifiers are very profitable." Liu jiangyuan analysis, the air purifier product gross profit rate at least 50% above, the highest even reached 300%. On the contrary, in the case of the price war is getting fiercer and fiercer, the color TV gross profit margin is less than 15%, the air conditioning gross profit margin is less than 30%.

Where there is demand, there is market. Over the past three years, the U.S. market for home air purifiers has grown more than 30 percent to more than $4 billion, data show. The American market for air purifiers for cars is also taking off fast.

Analysis of industry insiders told reporters, the prevalence rate of air purifier in developed countries, more than 34%, while in our country is less than 1%, the next few years, the consumption of the air purifier subject will decorate from the crowd, high-grade office buildings, senior leisure places and high income family gradually turned to the old man and baby place to live, family spread to the common people.

"China's domestic air purifier market will reach 27 billion yuan in the next three years." Liu predicted that more than five million cars will be equipped with air purifiers in the next three years. Air purifiers will be installed in hundreds of millions of urban homes in the next decade. The market prospect of this product is promising.

"Most of them are unreliable"

Eliminating haze is obviously a gimmick for enterprises to enter the air purifier market.

"PM2.5 removal rate 99%", "formaldehyde removal rate 98%", "bactericidal performance 99%"... In each store, the air purifier products of each major brand all use data to demonstrate their strong purification efficiency. Almost all brands take the removal of fine particles as their main selling point. Some products are also marked with functions of sterilizing, humidifying and removing formaldehyde, with prices ranging from several hundred yuan to nearly 10,000 yuan.

But in the face of the authorities' testing reports, these figures have become a joke. Recently, the Shanghai consumer rights and interests protection commission released the "air purifier comparison test results bulletin" results show that some of the big brands of air purifier products advertised purification efficiency and the actual situation is far from. In addition, the applicable area of the air purifier and the actual test results are also "dirty".

As an example, the Shanghai municipal consumer council conducted comparative tests on 22 brands of air purifiers, covering mainstream models ranging from 1,488 yuan to 9,300 yuan. The test results show that there are different degrees of problems in the purification efficiency of inhalable particles and the purification rate of formaldehyde. For example, the formaldehyde purification efficiency of an air purifier priced at 5880 yuan is only 9%. "The '99% elimination rate' tagline that most products advertise is not true." Liu jiangyuan said.

In response, song guangsheng, director of the national indoor environment and indoor environmental protection product quality supervision and inspection center, said that the current "PM2.5 removal rate of 99%" advertised by many businesses is actually a concept of cheating, the removal rate is the effectiveness of the material itself on PM2.5 and formaldehyde, not the actual operation effect. International air purifiers must indicate the applicable area, clean air per unit area, many domestic standards are not, only 99% of this kind of beautiful Numbers deceive consumers.

Song said the source of most of the samples used in the current market is uncertain. Most of the samples are provided by air purifiers, and it is difficult to determine whether the materials used in the samples are consistent with the products purchased by consumers in the market.

There are also problems in the measurement market. Some measures are even known to be adding to the confusion in the air purifier market, ranking companies by how much they pay.

The new national standard promotes a new round of reshuffle

In numerous dispute sound, new country standard revision work began.

Last year, the national household appliance quality supervision and inspection center conducted a spot check on more than 20 brands of air purifiers sold in the Beijing market, and found that some of them had little or no air purification capability.

But the revision process of the national standard is very difficult, according to the enterprise involved in the revision work, almost every revision meeting is "quarrel" very fierce, the focus of the debate is mainly focused on the purification efficiency, the service life of the filter and the applicable area of the old national standard has not been detailed.

Of air purifier in current China national standards, a total of six major examination air purifier is to have effective purify ability, set the clean air purification, purification efficiency, noise and service life of the technical requirements, is very important in the standard system performance standards, but still cannot effectively regulate the purifier market now.

Liu jiangyuan introduced that as early as the end of last year to form the revised draft of the national standards of air purifiers, after a series of experimental verification and analysis and comparison, has completed the final stage of the work. In the new standard, the purification function of air conditioner and vehicle air purifier is included in the national standard, in addition, the test method for formaldehyde and benzene is added, the calculation method for the applicable area of air purifier is strictly stipulated, and the test method for the purification efficiency of air purifier is increased.

Liu jiangyuan will air purifier national standards as one of the most difficult national standards.

The latest news is that the revised national standards for air purifiers will be released as soon as September.

"The implementation of the new standards for air purifiers will facilitate the daily quality supervision of the regulatory authorities, thus effectively eliminating the widespread hype and other disorders in the industry, and low-quality conceptual products will be eliminated from the market." "The air purifier industry is about to see a new round of reshuffle in the second half of the year," liu said.