Jayant Purohit

DUBAI, UAE, 8 September 2020: As per a recent industry report, the indoor air quality (IAQ) market is expected to grow by USD 9.54 billion between 2020 and 2024, with the Asia Pacific region expected to showcase the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR), said Jayant Purohit, Product Manager, Panasonic Life Solutions Middle East & Africa. Purohit added that the report also recognised China, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as major markets for IAQ products and that the Middle East, as a region, is expected to contribute significantly to the growing market figures. “The demand is increasing further as end-users and developers are focusing on healthy indoor environment improvements, sustainability and smart homes,” he said. “With the ongoing pandemic situation, more and more organisations and homeowners are focusing on health and safety, which has contributed to a slight uptake in demand for IAQ solutions like air purifiers and air quality monitoring equipment.”

Purohit said that in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), demand is steadily growing across multiple sectors, including homes, offices, hotels, hospitals, daycare centres, nurseries, universities, airport lounges and smoking rooms, and that this can be attributed to the region’s hot climate, which makes stakeholders especially dependent on their HVAC systems. “Even before the pandemic hit, homebuilders were seeing growing consumer interest in healthy homes,” he said. “A 2018 Energy Pulse Report by the Shelton Group found that 68% of homeowners believe their house has a moderate to substantial impact on their health, and respondents ranked ‘making my home healthier/safer’ as the number two reason to spend money on a home.”

Purohit said that this awareness on the importance of IAQ has only increased with the onset of COVID-19. He pointed out that since companies implemented corrective measures, such as ordering employees to work from home, more and more people spent longer time in their residences, compared to pre-COVID times, and that being confined to such a limited space highlighted the consequences of “Sick House Syndrome”, which includes headache and nausea. While there was awareness even before the pandemic, Purohit said that the additional cost of air purifiers previously served as a barrier for people looking to improve their IAQ. “[Now] since people have started staying at home and working from there, this investment makes sense, as they are going to feel the effect,” he said, adding that he expects this trend to be reflected in future sales figures.

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has created more awareness among people in the MEA region on the importance of air quality in both their personal and professional environments, Purohit said. He added that people are more willing to install products that enhance the safety and health of occupants in the home and office. He said that High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, with active filtration technology, are also expected to gain preference over other types of air purification technologies and that there will be higher demand for such products owing to their application in residential and industrial developments.

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