en.Wedoany.com Reported - Affected by the persistent extreme heatwave in Europe, the demand for air conditioners in the French market has surged. Recently, French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist announced an emergency order of 30,000 air conditioners for hospitals nationwide, requiring delivery "within the next few days." Upon receiving the order, Midea's air conditioner factory in Wuhu responded swiftly. July is traditionally a low season for mobile air conditioner production, with only one production line initially maintaining output for this category. After receiving the urgent order, the factory quickly converted another multi-purpose production line to mobile air conditioner production on July 7, increasing daily capacity from 3,000 to 6,000 units. Excluding material preparation time, it took only 3.5 days to complete the production of 20,000 units of this model.
From order confirmation to the first shipment, it took only 7 days. On July 9, the first batch of 8,000 units was officially shipped, and the remaining orders were fully completed and shipped by July 11. Midea confirmed that the total order from the French client was 30,000 mobile air conditioners, of which 20,000 units have been fully shipped.
In terms of logistics, Midea's air conditioner exports to Europe have traditionally relied on sea freight, taking about two months from Wuhu to France. This urgent French order had extremely high timeliness requirements, and the logistics team evaluated options such as air freight and the China-Europe Railway Express. Air freight was the fastest but too costly, while the China-Europe Railway Express required at least 28 days, still insufficient to meet demand. Ultimately, this batch of air conditioners adopted a cross-border truck land transport solution for the first time. The goods departed from the Wuhu factory, arriving at the Xinjiang port in 5 days. After transshipment, they were transported through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, and other countries, with the overseas leg taking about 15 days to reach the French client's warehouse. The overall delivery cycle was nearly halved compared to sea freight.
Meanwhile, Midea's "viral" product, the PortaSplit split mobile air conditioner, has received over 160,000 new orders since June, and is being delivered to the European market in batches from the Guangzhou Nansha factory. This model is primarily shipped via sea freight and the China-Europe Railway Express, with over 50 containers already dispatched.
Europe's domestic air conditioner production capacity is severely insufficient. According to statistics from the European Home Appliance Association, Europe's annual air conditioner production capacity is only 3.2 million units, while the annual market demand exceeds 10 million units, with over 60% of the gap relying on imports. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first half of 2026, China's air conditioner exports to the EU reached $3.76 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43.2%, with mobile air conditioner exports growing by over 70%. This urgent procurement event in France highlights the rapid response capability and supply chain efficiency of Chinese manufacturing under extreme weather conditions.
