The start of 2026 has brought a "good start" to China's construction machinery industry, with excavator sales reaching 18,700 units in January, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%, and exports accounting for 9,985 units, a year-on-year surge of 40.5%. This means that more than 600 excavators are shipped from Chinese factories to all parts of the world every day, and for several consecutive months, exports have exceeded domestic sales, becoming the absolute main driver of industry growth. After more than 20 years of technological climbing and production capacity accumulation, China's construction machinery enterprises have stood at the threshold of globalization 2.0, and 2026 is expected to become a watershed year for the industry to transition from quantitative growth to qualitative improvement.?
From a macro perspective, the industry is benefiting from the resonance of internal and external cycles. Externally, the wave of global infrastructure investment and the improvement of the global liquidity environment have provided a broad market space for Chinese construction machinery. Internally, the industry is entering a new inventory replenishment cycle, with downstream demand from real estate, infrastructure, mines, and rural construction continuing to recover. In 2026, the proportion of electric loaders in domestic sales reached 51% in January, reflecting the industry's in-depth transformation towards green and low-carbon development, which also helps Chinese enterprises better meet the strict carbon emission requirements of European and American markets and seize the replacement demand released by these markets.?
At the micro level, leading Chinese construction machinery enterprises are deepening their localized operations overseas, shifting from simple product exports to full-chain operations covering R&D, production, sales, and services. Sany Heavy Industry, for example, saw its overseas revenue account for more than 60% of its total revenue in the first three quarters of 2025, with a gross profit margin 9 percentage points higher than that of domestic business. The company has built a "lighthouse factory" in Indonesia using digital twin technology, increasing production efficiency by 30%, and a supply center in Dubai covering 72 countries and regions in the Middle East and Africa, shortening the parts delivery cycle by 35%. XCMG, Liugong, and Shantui have also accelerated their overseas layout, establishing manufacturing bases and subsidiaries in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America. While challenges such as trade barriers and geopolitical uncertainties remain, the continuous improvement of product technology and the optimization of global service networks are helping Chinese construction machinery brands transform from "cost-effective" to "technologically leading," enabling them to compete head-on with international giants such as Caterpillar and Komatsu in the high-end market.
