Rise of China's ice machine market: Scale surge, technological breakthroughs, future promising

According to YH Research, the ice machine market is experiencing explosive growth as the “culture of ice use” becomes more and more popular in China, with the commercial and household ice machine market reaching RMB 2.675 billion in 2024 and expected to double to RMB 5.506 billion by 2026. The global market is also showing a strong upward trend, with the global commercial and household ice machine market reaching $1.62 billion in 2024 and expected to climb to $2.633 billion two years later. Driven by strong market demand, China's ice machine industry is not only advancing by leaps and bounds in technology, but also seeing the rapid rise of its own brands, narrowing the gap with foreign brands. Coupled with the help of e-commerce and social media, the future prospects for the development of the ice machine industry is promising.

First, the market scale continues to expand
(A) strong demand growth
Relevant report data show that with the surge in demand for ice in people's production and life, and ice applications continue to expand, the domestic demand for ice machines is continuing to go up. Professional organizations predict that the market size of China's commercial and household ice machine market will be about 2.675 billion yuan in 2024. Thanks to the popularization of “ice culture” and economic recovery, the market size is expected to exceed 5.506 billion yuan by 2026. Globally, the global commercial and household ice machine market will reach USD 1.62 billion in 2024, and is expected to grow to USD 2.633 billion in 2026, with huge growth potential.

( B ) Diversified application scenarios
The application scope of ice machine is very wide, covering a wide range of fields such as domestic, commercial and industrial. Household ice machine to pellet ice machine, to meet the family's daily ice needs; commercial ice machine is widely used in food and beverage, supermarkets, cold chain and other industries, including pellet ice machine, flake ice machine and snow ice machine and other types of ice; industrial-grade ice machine in the water conservancy and hydropower, nuclear power, construction projects, such as concrete cooling scenarios, mine cooling and other artificial environment improvement, energy saving and environmental protection areas such as energy storage and peak shifting, as well as the cooling of fine chemical reaction kettle, Artificial ice and snow manufacturing and other aspects to play a key role, the main type of tube ice machine. Currently, domestic ice machine accounts for the highest share of 76.4% in China's ice machine market, and its sales growth is mainly influenced by the “ice use culture”. Commercial ice machine market share is 19.1%, in recent years with the iced coffee, iced tea drinks market boom, the demand growth rate is obvious. Industrial ice machine sales accounted for only 4.5%, but with the application in large-scale industrial projects, sales are considerable.

(C) increasingly fierce competition
Huge market growth space, making China's ice machine industry increasingly fierce competition. In the field of household ice machine, domestic brands occupy a dominant position, Huikang and Voltolai two brands with a market share of nearly 40%, Dongling, ICESTA, GRANT and other brands are also rising rapidly. In the field of commercial and industrial-grade ice machine, it is still the world of foreign brands, Germany KTI, the United States Manitowoc, Italy Scotsman, Japan Iceman and other brands occupy the main market. However, Snowman, Sifang and other domestic brands have begun to emerge in the field of commercial ice machine, gradually breaking the monopoly of foreign brands.

Second, the significant improvement in technological strength

(A) technological breakthroughs and innovations
In recent years, China's ice machine industry, the rapid development of technology, not only mastered the core technology of ice machines and ice systems, but also to achieve a number of innovations and breakthroughs. Nowadays, the commercial and household ice machine equipment of independent brands has been on a par with advanced foreign brands in terms of quality and performance, and can basically replace imported products. In terms of core components, China's ice machine compressor and ice evaporator with foreign products is also narrowing the gap. In the past, Europe, the United States and Japan and other developed countries in the field of refrigeration compressor dominance, now Chinese enterprises in the screw compressor research and development and technology introduction on the outstanding achievements. Domestic large-scale ice machine enterprises joint refrigeration, mechanical professional colleges and universities, developed a number of refrigeration compressor technology patents. At the same time, since joining the World Trade Organization, domestic enterprises actively cooperate with foreign enterprises to run factories, the introduction and development of a number of refrigeration compressor technology and new products, and further narrow the distance with the international advanced level.

(B) there is still a development gap
Although China's ice machine industry has made remarkable progress, but compared with the advanced level of foreign countries, in refrigerant research and application, energy efficiency level of ice machines, there is still room for improvement. Developed countries have invested heavily in the research and development and use of refrigerants, constantly optimizing the efficiency of refrigerants, reduce the impact on the environment, while actively exploring low-temperature heat pumps, refrigeration systems, recycling and other new technologies. On the contrary, the domestic production and use of refrigerants in the relative lack of investment in technology, there is an urgent need to increase R & D efforts to improve the technical system.

In addition, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which have a strong greenhouse effect, are being fully replaced globally, with the replacement work basically completed in developed countries and the phase-out process accelerated in China. In terms of energy efficiency indicators, the international common energy efficiency ratio of ice volume (IWP), ice-water ratio (IW) and energy efficiency ratio (COP), the ice machine products of developed countries such as Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries have reached or exceeded the international advanced level, and the energy efficiency of some high-end products is more than 40% higher than that of ordinary products. Moreover, developed countries in the design, manufacture and use of ice machine has accumulated more rich technical research and development and practical experience, in the policy, standards and certification system is also more mature, with more stringent energy efficiency standards and scientific testing methods.

Third, the industry outlook opportunities and challenges co-exist
(A) E-commerce social empowerment development
The booming rise of e-commerce and the widespread popularity of social media has brought new development opportunities for the ice machine industry. The social attributes of social media and e-commerce platforms allow content creators to reach consumers directly, stimulate consumer interest in purchasing, and provide ice machine brands with one-stop marketing programs integrating content dissemination, seeding and promotion, and online ordering, which has greatly boosted the promotion of domestic ice machines in the domestic market. If domestic brands can make full use of the advantages of these platforms, it will strongly promote the further development of China's ice machine market.

( B ) industry standards need to be improved
Industry development can not be separated from the standardization. At present, the existing national standards and industry standards in the ice machine industry, such as GB 4706.13-2014 “safety of household and similar appliances refrigeration appliances, ice cream machine and ice machine special requirements”, although the coverage is broader, but these standards were formulated before 2014, the implementation of the time has been more than 8 years. With the rapid development of the industry, the existing standard system has been difficult to adapt to the market and technological development needs, it is urgent to update the industry standards.

Fourth, the conclusion
With the continuous penetration of the “ice culture” and the rapid recovery of the economy, the scale of the ice machine market continues to expand. Driven by market demand, China's ice machine industry has significantly enhanced its technological strength, and the development of independent brands has gained momentum. In the future, with the east wind of e-commerce and social media, the industry has a very broad development prospect. However, it should also be soberly realized that the industry still has short boards in refrigerant technology, energy efficiency and other aspects, and industry standards need to be updated in a timely manner. Only to make up for the short board, improve the standard, China's ice machine industry can realize sustainable high-quality development.

The above data can be referred to the “2025 Global and China Ice Machine Industry Head Enterprises Market Share and Ranking Research Report” published by YH Research. YH Research can provide one-stop industrial consulting services such as in-depth industrial research reports, business plans, feasibility studies and customized services.