Analysis of Segmented Market of Home Appliance Glass Industry in 2025

1. Overview of the Home Appliance Glass Industry

The home appliance glass industry has grown and developed alongside the application of glass in home appliances and the increasing prevalence of various appliances in households. It has evolved from nothing to something, and the product range has expanded from simple tempered and coated glass to a diverse range of structural products. Furthermore, the market demand for home appliance glass is significantly influenced by downstream home appliance industries. With the expansion of applications for home appliance glass products, the shortening replacement cycle of home appliances, and the release of Chinese residents' consumption potential driving growth in high-end refrigerators and wine cabinets, the home appliance glass industry has ushered in a period of significant development.

Currently, my country's home appliance glass deep processing technology is relatively mature, and there are numerous manufacturers in the industry, but most are small enterprises focusing on low-end products. Due to the complexity of manufacturing processes for high-end and new glass products, from production to management to R&D, high levels of professional expertise are required from relevant personnel. Therefore, the high-end home appliance glass deep processing field still faces significant technological and talent barriers.

2. Current Status of Downstream Development of the Home Appliance Glass Industry Chain

The home appliance glass industry chain covers multiple links from upstream raw material supply to midstream glass production and processing, and then to downstream home appliance manufacturing and consumer markets. Each link is interdependent and develops in a coordinated manner. Its downstream industry is the home appliance industry, mainly used in low-temperature storage equipment such as freezers and refrigerators, as well as glass panels for washing machines, including glass doors and shelf glass. Home appliance glass has evolved from simply pursuing aesthetics and low prices to now having functions and benefits such as appearance, functionality, energy saving, and environmental protection, and is constantly being improved according to the upgrading of end-user consumption needs. The market demand for home appliance glass is generally greatly affected by the downstream home appliance industry.

(1) Refrigerator Market 

As a widely used daily consumer necessity, refrigerators exhibit a remarkably inelastic market demand. The successive introduction of policies such as "Home Appliances to the Countryside," "Home Appliances Trade-in Program," and "Energy-Saving Products for the Benefit of the People" has driven the development of the refrigerator industry.

China's refrigerator sales in the past decade

Source: PUHUA Policy

China refrigerator market has maintained an overall upward trend over the past decade. Policies such as "Home Appliances to the Countryside" and "Home Appliances Trade-in Program" have boosted refrigerator consumption and had a certain structural impact on my country's refrigerator market. Currently, the domestic refrigerator market is in a relatively stable phase.

Intense competition in the refrigerator market has led refrigerator manufacturers to place higher demands on their glass suppliers. Refrigerator glass manufacturers must fully meet the manufacturers' increasing requirements in terms of quality, performance, manufacturing processes, functionality, and energy efficiency. While ensuring a stable and timely supply of quality glass, suppliers must also continuously invest in research and development and strengthen collaboration with OEMs to develop refrigerator glass doors with updated processes, higher performance, and enhanced functionality.

(2) Refrigerator Market

Refrigerators, which combine insulation and display functions, have multiple application scenarios, a wide consumer base, and a large market capacity. In my country, this is a mature industry with inelastic market demand, and the market has remained generally stable in recent years. my country's refrigerator industry has a high concentration, forming a stable competitive landscape, mainly concentrated in well-known brands such as Haier, with Haier leading in commercial refrigerator sales. Due to the high industry concentration, refrigerator glass door manufacturers often maintain stable cooperation with leading companies. The positive trend in the refrigerator industry drives demand for doors, and with increasing competition, downstream and end-users have higher requirements for refrigerator appearance and functionality. This prompts refrigerator door manufacturers to not only meet quantity demands but also upgrade processes and develop new functions.

(3) Washing Machine Market

Washing machines are classified in various ways. By structure, they can be categorized as single-tub, twin-tub, and multi-tub washing machines. By washing method, they include drum, pulsator, agitator, and jet-type washing machines. Over the past decade, my country's washing machine sales first declined and then rose. Due to the disappearance of the demographic dividend and consumption upgrades, the industry shifted from incremental to stock-based growth, and companies faced the challenge of product structure upgrading and high-end transformation. Later, with successful enterprise transformation and the emergence of multi-functional products, the industry experienced development, and sales increased. my country's washing machine industry has developed for many years, cultivating domestic international brands such as Haier and Midea, and attracting foreign manufacturers to set up production bases, leading to increased industry concentration.

With the integration of the industry and big data, smart washing machines from brands such as Haier, Midea, and Siemens can intelligently sense the condition of clothes and adjust washing parameters for more scientific, efficient, and energy-saving washing. Intelligentization is leading the industrial upgrade of washing machines from mechanization to automation and then to intelligence, which is the main direction of future product technology development.

3. Barriers to Entry in the Home Appliance Glass Industry

(1) Market and Brand Barriers

Home appliance glass manufacturers need to continuously communicate with customers regarding important indicators such as product performance. Downstream home appliance companies have a long, complex, and rigorous process for selecting qualified suppliers. After long-term review and trial period assessment, suppliers with excellent quality and good reputation are favored. Due to the high review costs, customers are not easily replaced after product quality stabilizes, and tend to cooperate for a long time. New competitors find it difficult to build reputation and open up the market in a short period of time, making market barriers one of the obstacles to industry entry.

(2) Operation and Management Barriers

Compared with general manufacturing, home appliance glass has the characteristics of being easily broken and easily damaged in production and operation. Since the industry generally adopts the "production based on sales" production method, it places extremely high demands on the production management technology and internal coordination capabilities of home appliance glass manufacturers. In particular, the refined management of each production and operation link, from production planning, material procurement, production organization, safe transportation, and after-sales service, must be properly organized and coordinated to complete the order-based production organization and management efficiently, with low loss, low cost, and high quality. Because the formation and improvement of enterprise operation and management capabilities is a long-term process of experience accumulation, this creates an operational management barrier for new entrants.

(3) Technology and Talent Barriers

High-end home appliance glass products must simultaneously possess high performance, multi-functionality, environmental friendliness, and aesthetic appeal. Therefore, higher requirements are placed on production processes, processing technologies, process flows, and the reserve of technical personnel. Production personnel need to master a series of processes and technologies such as cutting, tempering, and coating of raw glass sheets. Simultaneously, a group of high-tech talents with professional knowledge and rich practical experience in coating, screen printing, and other related fields are needed. Furthermore, to meet the requirements of customized product services for customers, a large number of enterprise R&D personnel are needed to continuously update and iterate technologies and continuously improve product quality.

(4) Product Quality Barriers

As accessories for home appliance assembly, home appliance glass's downstream products directly face end consumers. Enterprises need to possess a high level of production process management and a qualified quality control system to ensure a high product qualification rate. The product qualification rate largely determines the unit cost of the product and is also an important indicator affecting the profitability of home appliance glass manufacturers.

(5) Capital Barrier

Establishing a modern home appliance glass manufacturing plant requires huge amounts of capital to purchase advanced production and deep processing equipment and construct environmentally friendly and safe factory buildings. In addition, research and development of new technologies and products, such as smart home appliance glass with dimming and display functions, involves material research, process improvement and equipment upgrading, which also require financial support. This is a significant financial challenge for new entrants.

4. Competitive Landscape of the Home Appliance Glass Industry

Currently, the competitive landscape of the home appliance glass market is relatively concentrated. Globally, some well-known home appliance glass manufacturers dominate the market. These companies, leveraging their strong R&D capabilities and production capacity, continuously launch products with innovative designs and high performance. In addition, some emerging home appliance glass manufacturers are also challenging the traditional market structure. Increased market competition will further drive industry development and innovation.

While there are many manufacturers in the home appliance glass sector, their product structure is relatively simple, mostly focusing on the low-to-mid-range market. There are few companies with high-end R&D and production capabilities, and intensified competition in the low-to-mid-range market makes it difficult to build brand recognition. As home appliance manufacturers strengthen R&D and develop new products, home appliance glass companies need to follow suit, enhancing innovative processes and changing product structures to promote industrial upgrading.

Major domestic home appliance glass manufacturers include Anhui Xincai, Xiuqiang Glass, Samsung New Materials, Konor Glass, Jiangyin Hengfeng, Ningbo Borui, Hefei Jinjinye, and Dongguan Yintong. In the future, with the development of high-end and intelligent home appliance glass, the manufacturing process and requirements for home appliance glass will become increasingly stringent. Companies with independent R&D capabilities and customer resource advantages are expected to see their market share continue to increase.

Major Chinese companies in the industry

5. Cyclical, Regional, or Seasonal Characteristics of the Home Appliance Glass Industry

(1) Cyclicality

The operating cycle of the home appliance glass industry is affected by both national macroeconomic fluctuations and downstream industry upgrades and product replacements. Due to the different technological evolution paths of different products, each sub-sector exhibits different cyclical characteristics. In the home appliance market, where product technology is relatively mature, technological progress is mainly reflected in improvements in appearance and specific functions.

(2) Seasonality

The home appliance glass industry is mainly used in the home appliance sector, and overall, home appliance sales do not exhibit strong seasonality. For certain products, such as refrigerators and other refrigeration appliances, summer is a relatively peak sales season, and sales of related glass products are concentrated in the first half of the year. However, sales of appliances such as washing machines do not show significant seasonality, with relatively stable sales volumes in each season, and correspondingly, glass doors also do not show significant seasonality.

(3) Regionality

The regional characteristics of the home appliance glass industry are determined by a combination of factors, including whether the company's products face transportation restrictions and the timeliness requirements of downstream customers. Generally speaking, the home appliance glass industry does not exhibit regional characteristics.

6. Industry Technology Level and Characteristics

The core technologies for household appliance glass, such as refrigerator glass panels and appliance covers, are concentrated in glass tempering and overall peripheral injection molding. These technologies are currently relatively mature, with relatively low technological barriers. With the development of energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies in household appliances, coated glass with special properties will also be applied to household appliance glass, such as UV-blocking coated glass for oven panels.

The core technologies for household appliance glass include internal arc printing technology and ink preparation. Internal arc printing technology is mature, with relatively low technological barriers. Ink preparation is generally a proprietary technology mastered by enterprises based on production experience and practice, and it is the core of product competitiveness. In the specific production process, because household appliance glass requires control of color difference, the printing operation is quite difficult, especially for printing with special pattern effects, such as light-colored gradients and three-dimensional effects. The printing control operation is even more difficult, which makes the production of high-end household appliance glass have a certain threshold.