In 2021, Poland maintained its position as the European leader in the production of large household appliances. It also overtook Germany and advanced to the second position (after China), on the list of global exporters of washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, freezers, cookers and hobs.
According to the data of the APPLiA employers’ association, quoted by the Polish Economic Institute, last year factories located in Poland produced a record number of 27.2 million pieces of large household appliances, which constituted as much as 39% of the production of this type of equipment in the EU.
This group includes washing machines and dryers (representing 60% of EU production), dishwashers (58%), kitchens, ovens (50%) and refrigerators (28%).
In 2021, Polish companies provided foreign customers with 26 million pieces of large household appliances for a total amount of EUR 5.3 billion, which was 1.85% of all Polish exports. This means that 96% of the total equipment produced in 2021 was exported. Compared to 2020, the volume of exports increased by 15%, and the value – by 17%. Compared to 2019, i.e. the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the increases amounted to 30%, respectively. and 20%.
In the last decade, the value of Polish exports of this type of equipment has almost doubled, and since Poland joined the EU – it enhanced by more than seven times.
The largest recipient of large household appliances from Poland was Germany, which purchased equipment worth EUR 1.4 billion i.e. 26.3% of Polish exports of this equipment. Other recipients included France (10.1%), Great Britain (9.3%) and Italy (8.4%). Together, these four countries accounted for more than half of Polish exports of large household appliances.
Washing machines, refrigerators and freezers dominated the commodity structure of Polish exports. The value of their sales abroad in 2021 amounted to EUR 2.5 billion, which accounted for 46.5% of Polish exports of large household appliances. The following most popular items were dishwashers, dryers and centrifuges, as well as cookers and ovens.
Adrian Andrzejewski