Swedish water purifier maker further taps into local market

Swedish water purification brand Bluewater launched its SuperiorOsmosis™ water cleaners in Beijing Tuesday, a move to further tap into the local water purifying market.

According to Bluewater, the technology will generate purified water 24 hours a day when required with little energy and slashing the water wastage associated with traditional reverse osmosis systems by up to 80 percent.

Having entered China last year, Bluewater targets premier markets in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The prices of their products range from 15,000 to 60,000 yuan ($2,401 to $9,606) per unit.

According to Niclas Wullt, Bluewater chief executive, the company's sales have enjoyed a two-digit growth in China, and he has not ruled out possibilities to invest in factories in China to manufacture needed parts.

Bai Ou, a market insider, told the Global Times Tuesday that there are more than 3,000 companies in the water purifying market in China, including the spare parts suppliers, and the market size last year hit about 40 billion yuan.

The increase in the number of companies entering the water purifying market is mainly due to water pollution scandals in China and consumer awareness, Li Fuxing, director of Beijing's public health drinking water institute, told the Global Times Tuesday.

In the nation's most recent public water problem last Friday, a water company detected an abnormal smell in the Yangtze River in Jingjiang, East China's Jiangsu Province, resulting in residents rushing to buy bottled water.

A survey released by Bluewater Tuesday also shows that 96 percent of Chinese respondents said they were worried about their tap water at home being contaminated.

However, experts warned that overseas water purifying producers should have a good understanding of the water quality in China as it is different from that in other countries in terms of the microorganism content.