Raw winter days in southern China with no central heating are unbearable. As the patchy drizzle is bringing the winter season to most southern cities, the sales of radiators in these areas have soared by 300%, compared with the same period last year.

The sales volume of small household heating appliances has surged by 200% compared to last year, among which heating pads have rocketed by 600%. Table warmers and clothes dryers have become top sellers and foot warmers for export to Japan are in short supply.

According to Li Ming, deputy general manager of Foshan Shunde Odor Enterprise Company, since it got cold, orders for his company’s electric heaters on 1688, a domestic wholesale trade platform, have doubled. Since meteorologists predicted it would be a cold winter, his company started production and storage at the end of September. Customers from southern cities have dominated its domestic market and even supermarkets in the very southerly city of Guangdong have begun to take delivery of heating products.

Li said that sales of clothes dryers are at 1,000 to 2,000 every day, ten to twenty times the volume of previous years. Orders have come from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi and Sichuan.“The dampness in southern cities exacerbates the toughness of winter. Clothes dryers are usually the best seller for two months around the Spring Festival, especially when it rains.”