The market volume of cold storage units usually increases significantly at the end of the year. This trend is driven by multiple factors such as the demand during the peak consumption season, policy promotion and industry upgrading.

From the demand side, the end of the year is the peak period for fresh food consumption. In 2024, the sales volume of fresh food e-commerce will increase by 18%, and the scale of the ready-to-eat food industry will reach 500 billion yuan, with 80% of sales going through e-commerce. The demand for cold storage will surge. Meanwhile, the demand for pharmaceutical cold chain has maintained an annual growth rate of 18%, and new cold storage facilities are needed for the reserve of temperature-controlled drugs such as vaccines. The gap in the county-level market is obvious. In 2024, county-level cold storage facilities will only meet 60% of the demand. During peak seasons in places like Yunnan, cold storage facilities need to be rented, with costs increasing by 15%. The year-end replenishment rush further expands the demand for units.

At the policy level, the state has established a special fund for cold chain, local authorities offer subsidies, and enterprises can enjoy discounts when making purchases before the end of the year, which has driven up the market volume.

Industry upgrading also drives demand. By 2025, the proportion of environmentally friendly refrigeration equipment will exceed 45%, and the shipment volume of intelligent units will increase by 28%. At the end of the year, enterprises will replace equipment in a concentrated manner to improve energy efficiency, and more new cold storage facilities will be equipped with intelligent units, further expanding the market scale.

Data shows that the market size of cold storage refrigeration equipment will exceed 85 billion yuan in 2025. As the end of the year is a peak demand season, the growth in market volume will be more prominent.