Food processing equipment

China exported 391 million small kitchen appliances especially food processing equipment worth US$5.2 billion in the 10 months to October 2006, a year-on-year increase of 30 percent in terms of value and 14 percent in volume. While export sales of food processing equipment have been rising steadily since we last reviewed the industry in April 2005, growth rate in terms of volume has decreased dramatically — from 40 percent in 2004 to less than 15 percent in 2005. The stable rise in export value despite the drop in volume growth is an indication of higher export prices of food processing equipment that have resulted mainly from increasing raw material and other production costs. The growth trend also indicates a gradual increase in exports of midrange and high-end appliances. Rising production costs of food processing equipment will continue to push overall export prices up in the next 12 months. Appliances exported to the EU will be an additional 3 to 5 percent more expensive due to the WEEE and RoHS directives.