France plunges into chaos over fan and air conditioner rush!
The fans and air conditioners sold during the buying frenzy are almost entirely made in China.
According to TASS on July 3rd.
Europe is enduring prolonged extreme heatwaves, with temperatures across France exceeding 40°C, and some areas reaching a peak of 44°C, triggering widespread red alerts for high temperatures nationwide.
Europe typically enjoys mild weather, and household air conditioning adoption is extremely low (less than 20% of French households own air conditioners). With the arrival of the heatwave, fans and portable air coolers quickly sold out across the board.
Discount supermarket Lidl announced the nationwide release of 200,000 affordable fans and portable air conditioners, instantly sparking a nationwide shopping frenzy.
In a climate equipment store located in the suburbs of Paris, people arrived as early as 1 a.m., bringing chairs and waiting overnight in line.
Frenzied customers smashed display windows.
Shoppers resorted to physical fights, even bloody clashes, to defend their purchases.
It is expected that France will face another round of heatwave starting from July 3rd.
Media reports indicate that nearly all core manufacturers of fans and air conditioners involved in the French buying spree are Chinese companies.
Domestic or European brands are rare, expensive, and severely out of stock.
Europe has almost no large-scale production capacity for portable air conditioners, with only a few traditional upright fan brands available.
Rowenta (a French home appliance brand): priced 2–3 times higher than domestic models, with extremely limited inventory;
Bosch and Siemens: German brands, premium models, not targeted by ordinary citizens.
France’s domestic air conditioning production capacity is severely insufficient, with over 90% of civilian air conditioners relying on imports. From January to May 2026, China's exports of air conditioners to the EU surged by 43.2%. The supply for this entire buying frenzy is primarily sourced from the home appliance industrial belts in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869659457705988/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author.