KARACHI: Domestic appliances – including refrigerators, air-conditioners and deep-freezers – have become costlier by up to Rs7,000 in the wake of rupee devaluation and rising cost of raw materials in China.

Dealers in Hashoo Centre Electronics Market near Abdullah Haroon Road, said the price of one-tonne and 1.5-tonne inverter ACs have surged to Rs46,000-48,000 and Rs62,000-63,000 from Rs36,000-37,000 and Rs57,000-58,000 respectively. Non-inverter one-tonne and 1.5-tonne air-conditioner prices has been raised to Rs35,000 and Rs45,000 from Rs28,000 and Rs38,000 respectively.

He said refrigerators of 10, 14 and 16 cubic feet now costs Rs 28,000, 37,000-38,000 and Rs 40,000-41,000 as compared to Rs 24,000, Rs 32,000-33,000 and Rs 37,000.

Demand for cooling machines surges with rising temperatures

Deep freezer of eight and 10 cubic feet is now selling at Rs 31,500 and Rs 32,000-33,000 as compared to Rs 26,000-27,000 and Rs 28,000. Double-door deep freezers of 13 cubic feet cost Rs 37,000 versus Rs 32,000 earlier on.

He said prices were earlier raised in January and February this year. “It is hard to say that the latest price increase would affect sales. The ‘sales season’ is still going on and Ramazan, which is falling in the third week of May, will create additional demand depending on rising mercury level,” he explained.

An executive of Gree told Dawn that the company has raised the price of 1.5 tonne inverter AC by Rs7,000 to Rs77,000 from Rs70,000 from September 2017 till to date while one tonne AC carries price tag of Rs58,000 as compared to Rs 54,000.

“Earlier on, Karachi, being a tropical city, was a slow market for cooling appliances as compared to Punjab where heat intensity is very high. The demand for ACs in Karachi has been going up since 2015 when a powerful heatwave during Ramazan left 1,200 citizens dead,” he said.

Fearing more scorching heat, a number of people in Karachi have installed ACs despite facing power failures as they think that at least they can keep them cool when electricity is during available, he added.

Demand for ACs in the current season may remain normal instead of showing a growth of 15 per cent like last year, he said.

As per figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), production of ACs reached 196,503 units in July-Feb 2017-18 from Rs 158,949 units in same period last fiscal. In 2016-17, AC production swelled to 470,624 units from 388,509 units in 2015-16.

The Gree executive said the PBS figures may be incomplete as many companies do not share their production figures. Pakistan’s AC market is about one million units per annum.

The executive said the share of inverter ACs in total sales is 60 per cent which was almost same of last year.

Sources said the prices of domestic appliances are under pressure owing to low localisation. Imported ACs are also available in markets.

Dealers said the price of LED TVs has also gone up. Giving an example, they said that a 32 inch Chinese-assembled TV now costs Rs 22,000 as compared to Rs 19,000.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018