At the recent Hoteres Japan 2022 and Supermarket Trade Show 2022 exhibitions, Japanese OEM Daikin exhibited its largest offering of propane (R290) plug-in showcases for the commercial food retail, restaurant and hospitality sectors since it first announced in June 2021 it would begin sales of these units in Japan.
At Hoteres Japan 2022, held in Tokyo from February 15 – 18, Daikin exhibited its R290 plug-in commercial freezer display cases and its R600a and R290 commercial freezer chests. Hoteres targets the Japanese hotel, restaurant, cafe and food service industries.
The R290 plug-in commercial freezer display cases were Daikin-branded Manhattan, Paris and Milano units, manufactured by its European subsidiary AHT.
At the Supermarket Trade Show 2022, held in Chiba, Japan, from February 16 – 18, Daikin exhibited its lineup of AHT R290 plug-in showcases including its new AHT Kalea upright R290 reach-in showcase. The Supermarket Trade Show serves Japanese supermarkets, convenience stores and the wider commercial food retail industry.
At both shows, the only showcases exhibited were those using R290.
Daikin is currently gauging the response from customers, as this is the first time it has made such a large exhibition of R290-based equipment at these two trade shows, according to a company representative. Daikin exhibited AHT R290 upright refrigerated display cabinets for the first time at the Supermarket Trade Show exhibition in February 2020,
In Japan, where CO2 outdoor condensing units have long been popular in the commercial refrigeration sector, supoermarkets have traditionally taken a cautious approach to hydrocarbon-based self-contained systems. But in the past year hydrocarbon systems have been making significant progress in the Japanese market, and this trend is expected to continue.
In February 2019, Daikin completed its acquisition of Austrian commercial refrigeration firm AHT Cooling Systems, a major manufacturer of R290 equipment with over one million propane-based cabinets installed worldwide. The deal signaled the company’s intention to continue expanding its natural refrigeration business following its acquisition of Tewis, a Spanish CO2 (R744) refrigeration system developer, in February of 2018.
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