German engineering and electronics giant Bosch Group launched the company's first air purifier to tap into China's air purifier market.
"The demand for air purifier in China is really huge and is still on steady increase as the smog problem is still severe here," said Zheng Dazhi, vice-president of sales and marketing at Bosch Thermotechnology for the Asia-Pacific.
Apart from the haze problem, the pollution and allergens have given rise to the demand for air purifiers, said Zheng, adding more and more Chinese people are asking for clean and fresh air.
Zheng is bullish about the prospects for the air purifier, saying the company will expand research and development capabilities, and aims to release the next generation of air purifier products in China.
The new national standard for air purifiers came into force in March, which includes more specific metrics for measuring the performance of air purifiers, such as their "clean air delivery rate".
It is expected that the new standard will bring the country's purifier market to order.
Zheng said Bosch is issuing the air purifiers based on the new standard.
Statistics from market and consumer information agency GfK show that the sales of air purifiers in China reached 3.52 million units last year, with the revenue of nearly 7.5 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), up 10 percent year-on-year, whose growth rate is much higher than other home appliances.
Zhou Qun, head of GfK China, said every 100 Chinese families own no more than 10 air purifiers, which is much lower than that in Japan and South Korea.
"The cognition level and consumption habit for air purifiers are not mature in China," Zhou said, adding the market has huge potential for growth.
Last year, the Bosch Group for the first time recorded sales of over 70 billion euros, an increase of 10 percent compared with previous year.
