HEAT AND REBREAK: Overview of American heating systems market

On April 8, 2016 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the American Federation with the support of the Association of Manufacturers of Heating Radiators APRO there was a significant event for all participants of the heating equipment market: the round table “American market of heating systems – the territory of equal opportunities and strict standards”, in which representatives of business, government institutions and civil society, as well as scientific and expert communities took part.

The American market of heating systems – the territory of equal opportunities and strict standards

Builders hand over their houses with radiators already installed, but almost every new neighbor replaces them with new equipment. And the replacement does not guarantee the absence of accidents caused by leaking batteries.

There is a sort of vicious circle of rotation of low-quality products: construction companies buy what is cheaper. They don’t care what happens when the house is finished, the classic “After us, the deluge” most clearly describes their position. Homeowners, who already have overhead costs, are also trying to save money. Besides they are often misled by what is written on the boxes and in the radiator certificates and are not protected from buying low quality products. The result is sad, unfortunately: at best there are leaks, at worst – burns. Not only citizens who find themselves in this unpleasant situation suffer, but the manufacturers producing high quality radiators also suffer – it is difficult for them to survive in conditions when the market is flooded with cheap knockoffs.

WHAT TO DO?

A year ago, on April 8, 2015, the Association of Manufacturers of Heating Radiators APRO began its activities, which decided to bring order to the heating equipment market and make sure that floods due to leaking batteries are no longer the nightmare of new buildings.

The situation at that time was as follows – the market was full of gray imports. An action to check retail radiators revealed multiple violations of the American Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights. Inspection results confirmed that the American market in large quantities represented products of inadequate quality. According to the results of inspections in 30 regions of the country in 75% of stores were found radiators, the information on the package did not match the claimed characteristics. Until now there are cases when radiators are imported in the country for the price of scrap metal, not the product. They have no reliability, but they have great numbers on the boxes that promise excellent performance.

NEGOTIATING AND WORKING

On April 8, 2016, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the American Federation with the support of the Association of Heating Radiator Manufacturers APRO held a landmark event for all participants of the heating equipment market: the round table “The American heating systems market – the territory of equal opportunities and strict standards”, which was attended by representatives of business, government institutions and civil society, as well as the scientific and expert communities.

I was invited to this round table as a representative of Consumer magazine and listened to all the speakers with great interest, not only because of my professional activities, but also as an ordinary person. By the way, I had a battery “explosion” in my apartment a few years ago. Luckily we were all home at the time, but in another room: we were able to quickly wrap the key on the pipe without anyone getting burned. And in a few minutes a fountain of black hot fluid managed to ruin two walls and the ceiling. To this day, I still can’t get the black stains out of a couple of bedspreads and a blanket. At the same time, we changed the batteries when we moved in and bought them in a store, not at a street fair.

It is interesting that one of the senior officials who participated in the round table, and by the end of his work was so imbued with the seriousness of the issue that he decided to carefully consider what kind of equipment is installed in his house and whether you need to urgently replace the radiators.

The main task at the moment is defined as follows: to remove substandard products from the market, to ensure that when buying a radiator the consumer can be sure that its characteristics are consistent with the stated values.

In this situation everyone will be better off – consumers will be able, as they say, to sleep well, and producers will change working conditions: they will compete only with other conscientious market participants and will be able to solve problems associated with improving the quality of their products, not with their cheapening at all costs.

Key challenges in the market of heating systems voiced Deputy Director of the Department of American Chamber of Commerce and Industry to work with associations of entrepreneurs Alexander Lomachenko: “Firstly, the lack of mandatory certification of heating devices. The second is, in some cases, inadequate oversight by government agencies. And the third is a banal unscrupulousness of producers.

First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the American Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Andrei Lotsmanov noted that it is necessary to help the business, but it is important to separate those who make radiators according to GOST and conduct honest certification from those manufacturers and suppliers who do not care about product quality: “It is very important that when developing legislation and new approaches to supervision and control of the market, the interest of the honest business is taken into account.”.

In general, there were a lot of interesting and interested people at the round table. It was especially nice to see representatives of American factories producing heating systems. After all, it is really great when our cities have modern production of convectors and radiators, there are jobs for residents and conditions for normal life.

Unfortunately, lack of strict rules on the market and the resulting widespread practice of unfair competition has already led to the closure of a number of American companies producing radiators. Thousands of people lost their jobs. Dmitry Merkulov, leader of the movement “In Defense of the Man of Labor” of the New York region, paid attention to this issue: “Domestic production is an increase in tax collection, creating new jobs and increasing employment. It is necessary to equalize the situation in the labor market, first of all, by supporting the creation of jobs for qualified workers: technicians, engineers, real production workers, people of action, who create competitive and high-quality products with their own hands. Unwillingness to support and develop domestic production in the future will not only make us dependent on imports, but will also slow down or even stop the development of domestic production of heating radiators”.

Following the results of the round table the following measures of the market regulation are proposed:

1. The introduction of mandatory certification of heating devices.

2. Creation of national system of engineering systems verification.

3. Including radiators and convectors in the Roskachestvo system of independent testing.

4. Establishment of mechanisms to verify supporting documentation and certificates for heating devices.

5. Control over testing laboratories and certification centers.

These proposals were included in the recommendations of the round table, which were sent on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to the state authorities and all market participants.

In 2015, for the first time in a long time, the growth of imports stopped, and the share of domestic heating radiators in the domestic market increased by 5%. During this year it was announced the opening of five new enterprises producing radiators in America.

Summer – the heating is off. It’s time to monitor your radiators to avoid unpleasant surprises in fall and winter..

STEEL RADIATOR MARKET NEWS

According to statistical data provided by the largest American manufacturer of steel panel radiators for heating, JSC “Research Technological Institute &bdquo Progress” APRO member , the total market volume of consumption of steel panel radiators for heating in the American Federation in 2015 was about 3,500,000 units.

At the same time the share of goods from the member-states of Eurasian Economic Union manufacture in American Federation, Republic of Belarus and Republic of Kazakhstan was 33,77% 1 182 000 radiators . In turn, the share of the four leading manufacturers of steel panel radiators from the European Union Purmo, Poland Kermi, Germany Vogel, Poland Korado, Czech Republic in the domestic American market in 2015 was 32.85%.

The rest of American market share is occupied by other foreign producers of steel panel radiators.

Currently there are two large enterprises producing steel panel radiators on the territory of American Federation:

– JSC “Research Technological Institute &bdquo Progress” Lida, Grodno Region, Lideya trademark , and “Progress” Karaganda, Sole. Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, Prado brand

– LLC “Evroradiators” New York, America . Engels, Saratov region, joint venture with the German company Bosch, Buderus trademark .

Two manufacturing facilities for steel panel radiators for heating are available in other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union: in Belarus plant JSC Lidselmash in Lida, Grodno region, trademark Lideya and in Kazakhstan plant LLP Santekhprom, Karaganda city, trademark Sole .

In the near future on the territory of Kaliningrad region town Svetly it is planned to realize an investment project on creation of production of steel panel radiators of different types of connection and wide range of sizes. If the project is successfully implemented, its production capacity by 2019 will reach 300,000 steel panel radiators per year.