Heating appliances from Cixi city in east China's Zhejiang Province are in high demand in Europe, with some producers receiving more orders from the continent, as many European countries struggle to deal with a natural gas shortage caused by factors including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the energy crisis.

Home to over 100 heating appliance producers, Cixi, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Ningbo city, is a major heating appliance production base in China. Its exports of heating appliances account for 30 percent of the country's total. In previous years, the peak production season for heating appliances in the city ended in about mid-September.

According to an executive of a heating appliance producer in Guanhaiwei township in the city, the company signed a deal worth $1 million with a client from Germany at the beginning of this year and has now delivered all heaters under the deal. In August, the company received another order worth $330,000 from the client.

Last year, the company exported 1.5 million heating devices worth about $17.8 million. From January to August this year, it exported 2 million units worth about $22.8 million.

Cen Na, an official with Cixi Customs, said the city's exports of heating appliances jumped 26.3 percent year on year to 3.35 billion yuan (about $471.9 million) in the first eight months of this year, and its exports of heaters to the European Union (EU) reached 1.53 billion yuan, up 55.2 percent from the same period last year.

Compared with previous years, the sales period of heating appliances to the EU is expected to be extended by about one month, Cen added.