Shipments of white goods appliances in Japan in terms of value reached the highest level in 22 years in 2018, totaling 2.45 trillion yen ($22 billion), driven by strong sales of air conditioners, an industry body said Monday.

The value, up 4.1 percent from a year before, was boosted also by brisk sales of refrigerators and washing machines, according to the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association.

It was the third year in a row that the figure surpassed that of the previous year. On a monthly basis, shipments in 2018 were higher than the same month a year before except in April.

Due to last summer's scorching heat, the volume of air conditioner shipments hit 9.65 million units, an all-time high since comparable data became available in 1972. The value increased 9.4 percent from a year before to 790.9 billion yen.

Japan was hit by a heatwave last year that caused deaths and was declared a "natural disaster" by the weather agency. Extreme heat pushed the mercury to a record 41.1 C in July.

"The 2018 market was firm, at a time when a huge increase in shipments of white goods appliances is hard to expect on the back of the country's decreasing population," an official of the association said.

In Japan, demand for high-priced large electrical home appliances continued to be robust. By product, refrigerators rose 3.3 percent to 437 billion yen and washing machines grew 6.1 percent to 347 billion yen.

While vacuum cleaners remained almost flat, the value of microwave and rice cooker shipments decreased.

source: https://japantoday.com/category/business/shipments-of-white-goods-appliances-in-japan-hit-22-year-high