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For Europeans, the coming harsh winter may not be easy.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation report, natural gas is the key fuel for heating in Europe in winter, but European countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, which has caused Russia to repeatedly cut its natural gas supply to Europe this year.

According to the import and export data released by Eurostat, the EU's annual energy inflation rate reached 41.1% in June, a new high since the statistics of relevant data began in 1997; among them, natural gas had the highest increase, with the inflation rate reaching 51.4%. According to data from the European Power Exchange, the average price of the European power system at the end of August increased by 6 times compared with the beginning of the year.

According to reports, in the face of skyrocketing energy bills, more and more Europeans have begun to look for "affordable alternatives" to keep out the cold without turning on the heating system in their homes - buying domestic heating equipment made in China with good quality and low energy consumption. Exports of heating equipment such as electric heaters, electric blankets and air source heat pumps from China have exploded this year.

According to Huacheng Import and Export data, in July this year alone, the 27 EU countries imported 1.29 million electric blankets from China, an increase of nearly 150% month-on-month. For heaters exported to the EU, the sales season has also been extended by about a month. Many importers placed additional orders for heaters, which brought a wave of "replenishment orders". Not only electric heaters, but in the "world supermarket" Yiwu Small Commodity City, merchants dealing with heating products such as hot water bottles also felt the unusualness of this year's orders.

Import and export data show that China exported 419,000 electric blankets to Germany in July, and the export volume increased to 632,000 in August. Britain imported 582,000 Chinese electric blankets in August.

In addition, according to import and export data, China's air source heat pumps are also selling well in Europe. In the first half of this year, China's air source heat pump exports to Bulgaria, Poland, Italy and Spain increased by 614%, 373%, 198% and 71% respectively year-on-year. An air source heat pump is a device that converts the heat contained in the air into usable heat energy, which is more energy efficient than traditional heat pump technology.

So, can electric blankets really save money? The British media reported on the 22nd that an electric blanket with a rated power of 100 watts would cost only 0.42 pounds to open a whole night (8 hours), which is much lower than the price of heating.

"I know it will save me some heating bills. A warm bed is a luxury now," wrote a customer who bought an electric blanket on an online shopping platform. Another said the electric blanket is perfect for cold nights .

It can be seen that the Europeans, who have always been generous, rarely "planned for a rainy day" this time.

The fact that the sales of electric blankets and portable heaters in Europe have surged was mentioned in the report of American Business Insider on August 25.

In particular, the report pointed out that the surge in sales of heating equipment occurred against the background of a record heat wave hitting Europe, with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.

According to the report, a British company that sells household appliances said that just after half of August, the number of electric blankets it sold this year has reached nearly 13 times that of the whole of 2021, and some varieties of electric blankets have been sold out. "It can be seen that people are preparing for higher energy prices," a spokesman for the company said.

A spokesman for a Swiss appliance seller said: “In Switzerland, we are currently anticipating gas shortages in winter. Therefore, some people and some businesses may be preparing for a period when it is necessary to switch to alternative energy sources for winter heating. , just in case."

Although electric blankets can indeed save money, they are not a little less effective than heating. Europeans can still deal with it this winter, what about later?