Consumers planning to buy home appliances would be wise to make their purchases soon, as manufacturers are expected to raise product prices to reflect the rising costs in raw materials, retailers said yesterday.
"Manufacturers actually made the request to raise retail prices of various home appliance before the Lunar New Year holidays, but we insisted that the price hike should not be done during the peak season," Henry Yin (
Prices of raw materials such as steel, copper and aluminum have risen about 15 percent since last year, which means that manufacturers producing large home appliances have had to deal with smaller margins, media have reported.
Far Eastern Geant plans to hold a home appliance sale to clear its inventories of last season's products next month and intends to start the price increase in April, Yin said.
Prices of refrigerators, air conditioners, rice cookers and washing machines containing steel plates and copper pipes are expected to increase by an average of 10 percent, Yin said.
The price of Kolin air conditioners, for example, was expected to increase by around NT$2,000 per unit.
Prices of new models of Kolin refrigerators will be increased by NT$1,000, while the prices of popular Tatung rice cookers will go up NT$200 to NT$300 per unit, media reports said.
Carrefour Taiwan also urged consumers to take advantage of its home appliance sale starting today, a company official in charge of the department said.
The nation's largest hypermarket chain is mulling raising its prices for large home appliances in accordance with the requests from manufacturers, but the range and the timing are still undecided, the official said.
Prices of smaller appliances, such as microwave ovens, juice makers and coffee machines with few metal parts will not be affected, the official said.
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