The year 2008 will definitely be remembered as the most imbalanced year in the last ten years. In the first three quarters of the year, almost all of the air conditioner manufacturers were plagued by increased production costs caused by the roaring prices of crude oil and other raw materials. In the fourth quarter of this year, the entire world, including the air conditioning industry, was swept by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Consequently, the consensus views the global air conditioning market in 2008 as being on a par, or even having a slight drop, compared with that of 2007.