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Major Appliance Sales Trending Down: AHAM

By Alan Wolf On Jul 3 2006 - 6:00am

Factory sales of major appliances are expected to grow 2.9 percent this year, to 81.4 million units, according to vendor estimates compiled by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM).

Though modest, the projected increase exceeds last year's essentially flat performance, AHAM statistics show.

Manufacturers expect that this year's growth will temper in 2007, however, when forecasts call for a 1.7 percent increase in wholesale sales, to 82.8 million units.

But the white goods industry can take heart in the long view: should the 2007 projections hold, factory sales will have grown nearly 46 percent since 1997, when shipments totaled 56.7 million unts.

Industry Shipments of Major Appliances*
(In Thousands of Units)

Product	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Cooking-Total	16,126	17,954	19,542	20,846	21,548	21,917	23,315	25,390	23,809	24,641	24,961
Electric Ranges - Total	4,240	4,639	4,983	5,026	5,066	5,338	5,622	6,145	6,194	6,317	6,410
Freestanding	3,177	3,481	3,785	3,826	3,842	4,030	4,238	4,612	4,677	4,775	4,858
Built-In	617	652	705	706	726	780	841	963	975	993	997
Surface Cooking Units	446	506	493	494	498	528	543	570	542	549	555
Gas Ranges - Total	2,744	2,950	3,137	3,176	3,036	3,268	3,419	3,719	3,755	3,809	3,836
Freestanding	2,391	2,543	2,698	2,729	2,580	2,781	2,897	3,124	3,131	3,170	3,193
Built-In	73	71	72	70	72	71	67	67	64	63	61
Surface Cooking Units	280	336	367	377	384	416	455	528	560	576	582
Microwave Ovens	9,142	10,365	11,422	12,644	13,446	13,311	14,274	15,526	13,860	14,515	14,715
Home Laundry - Total	11,635	12,624	13,622	14,070	13,863	14,637	15,480	16,754	17,383	17,982	18,355
Automatic Washers	6,326	6,835	7,313	7,495	7,362	7,745	8,146	8,832	9,225	9,651	9,850
Dryers - Total	5,309	5,789	6,309	6,575	6,501	6,892	7,334	7,922	8,158	8,331	8,505
Electric	4,114	4,482	4,865	5,095	5,117	5,402	5,718	6,262	6,451	6,620	6,777
Gas	1,195	1,307	1,444	1,480	1,384	1,490	1,616	1,660	1,707	1,711	1,728
Kitchen Clean-Up-Total	9,548	10,186	11,196	11,430	11,291	12,137	12,831	13,884	14,586	14,856	15,030
Disposers	4,619	4,936	5,369	5,485	5,547	5,815	6,277	6,649	7,040	7,068	7,075
Dishwashers - Total	4,826	5,144	5,712	5,827	5,627	6,207	6,428	7,106	7,424	7,666	7,834
Built-In	4,653	4,969	5,542	5,663	5,478	6,049	6,280	6,953	7,291	7,530	7,704
Portable	173	175	170	164	149	158	148	153	133	136	130
Compactors	103	106	115	118	117	115	126	129	122	122	121
Food Preservation -Total	9,414	10,401	11,086	11,180	11,520	12,279	12,544	13,429	13,349	13,717	14,098
Refrigerators #	7,924	8,774	9,099	9,217	9,305	9,744	10,021	10,913	11,135	11,457	11,775
Freezers - Total	1,490	1,627	1,987	1,963	2,215	2,535	2,523	2,516	2,214	2,260	2,323
Chest	795	875	1,058	1,075	1,285	1,492	1,518	1,529	1,321	1,360	1,400
Upright	695	752	929	888	930	1,043	1,005	987	893	900	923
Home Comfort-Total	4,656	5,559	7,244	7,471	6,381	6,952	9,527	9,754	9,989	10,200	10,347
Room Air Conditioners	3,836	4,528	6,294	6,496	5,575	6,153	8,216	8,082	8,032	8,300	8,351
Dehumidifiers	820	1,031	950	975	806	799	1,311	1,672	1,957	1,900	1,996
Total Shipments	51,379	56,724	62,690	64,997	64,603	67,922	73,697	79,211	79,116	81,396	82,791
AHAM 6***	32,133	34,916	37,680	38,408	38,230	40,785	42,495	46,055	47,003	48,366	49,396
Includes shipments for the U.S. market whether imported or domestically produced. Export shipments are NOT included. Forecasts as of May 6, 2006 Forecasts are a median of the participating companies' forecasts. # Includes units of 6.5 cu.ft. and over Total Industry shipments may not add due to rounding. **AHAM 6 includes: washers, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, and freestanding and built-in ranges. Source: AHAM ©TWICE 2006