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Haier Group Corp., a leading Chinese appliance manufacturer, has expressed an interest in acquiring Fisher & Paykel Appliances, a smaller New Zealand-based appliance maker. Haier already owns a 20% shareholding of the New Zealand company and has exclusive rights to sell its product range in China. F&P also sells Haier's products in the Australia, New Zealand and more recently in the Irish markets.

Some Chinese air conditioner manufacturers, including GREE, Hisense and Haier have recently increased their selling prices by RMB100 - RMB200 nationwide in response to rising costs, mainly attributed to higher copper prices. Chinese air conditioners are now, on average, RMB463 more expensive than last year, representing a price increase of 16.3%. It was reported that sales over the past year increased and production rose by 41.8% y-o-y in H1 2011. Demand is expected to weaken as autumn approaches but prices may climb further depending on copper price movements and the degree to which manufacturers' margins are squeezed by the recent removal of the energy-efficient air conditioner subsidy.