KARACHI: The market share of inverter air conditioners (ACs) has jumped this year on the back of competitive prices and the fact that people tend to conserve energy more.

The share of split ACs with and without inverters used to be equal in 2015-16; but now ACs with inverters hold 70 per cent market share, a Lahore-based assembler of split air conditioners said.

He said the overall sales of ACs (both locally assembled and imported completely built-up units) have risen to nearly 725,000 units during August 2015 to July 2016, from around 550,000 in the same period of the last year.

“People have now become more aware about the benefits of inverter technology,” he believed. He added that consumers generally prefer locally assembled Chinese ACs as they are cheaper than leading foreign brands of Korea and Japan.

Karachi Electronic Dealers’ Association (KEDA) President Mohammad Rizwan said prices of inverter ACs dropped by 5pc this year which helped boost their sales by almost a quarter.

Manufacturers of split ACs maintained higher production during the first half of this year in anticipation of increase in intensity of heatwave.

In June 2015, the country witnessed highest ever production of 78,950 ACs as scorching heat claimed more than 1,000 lives. Buyers even paid a premium of Rs2,000 to Rs10,000 per unit amid short supply.

Manufacturers boosted their production this year on reports that heatwave would be more deadly than last year. Though the temperature has remained moderate so far coupled with rainfall, AC sales are still going strong.

AC production went up to 236,661 units in January-June this year from 229,414 in the same period of 2015. Traders said sales have been particularly brisk since March.

Total production of ACs rose 21pc to 393,405 units in the previous fiscal year from 325,533 a year earlier, according to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016