Demand for small domestic appliances across five key markets in Southeast Asia – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam – surged 11 per cent in the first six months of this year.

Such strong demand buoyed the sector’s worth 15 per cent to US$431 million, says research house GfK.

Consumers snapped up nearly 16 million units of food preparation machines, irons, rice cookers and vacuum cleaners during the period – over 1.8 million units more than last year.

Each of the countries reported double digit value growth in the range of 14 to 22 per cent, with Vietnam registering the highest growth while the rest of the markets reported expansion in the range of 14 to 15 per cent.

In terms of sales volume, Vietnam and Indonesia reflected the highest rise in demand at 18 and 17 per cent over last year.

Most sought after amongst all the small appliances is the rice cooker, selling over 7.1 million units and worth US$190 million within the first half of the year. Vietnam drove the growth with a reported 31 per cent increase in both volume and value.

Trailing rice cookers in market worth is food preparation appliances, which accounted for US$102 million in sales, although it was the iron segment which attained the second highest sales volume at 4.7 million units.

GfK Asia account director for home and lifestyle, Jasmine Lim, expects the strong sales momentum during the first half to sustain for the rest of the year.

“Given the busy lifestyles of today’s modern society and the increasing demand for convenience, we expect to see a continued growing towards more sophisticated appliances that are able to simplify household chores for consumers,” she said.