Recently, with the sound of loud sirens, a Chinese giant ship carrying nearly 1000 XCMG excavators, loaders, graders and other construction machinery products set sail from Lianyungang port, Jiangsu Province to South America. This is the largest single batch export order of China's construction machinery industry in recent five years, playing a loud and victorious song of the overseas rise of made in China.
LV Ying, Deputy Secretary General of China Construction Machinery Industry Association, told reporters that since this year, overseas exports of construction machinery have continued to exceed expectations. In the future, under the gradually optimized distribution of sales and financing channels, leading domestic construction machinery enterprises are expected to enter the harvest period in the overseas market.
The volume of export trade hit a record high
According to customs data, in the first half of this year, China's total export of construction machinery was US $15.071 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54.9%! In addition to the excavators and loaders mentioned above, the main complete machine products driving the growth of export volume include forklifts, crawler cranes and off-road dump trucks.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the export growth of the construction machinery industry is "blooming everywhere" - exports to six continents increased significantly in the first half of the year. Among them, the export to Asia was US $6.895 billion, a year-on-year increase of 58%; Exports to Europe reached US $3.324 billion, a year-on-year increase of 55.74%; Exports to North America reached US $1.718 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36.42%; Exports to Africa reached US $1.337 billion, a year-on-year increase of 49.54%; Exports to South America reached US $1.114 billion, a year-on-year increase of 80.47%. Exports to Oceania reached US $684 million, a year-on-year increase of 47.8%.
Asia and Europe, as the main overseas battlefields of domestic construction machinery enterprises, account for nearly 70% of the share!
In addition, one belt, one road, and the other countries are also the key points for construction machinery enterprises, and their exports account for 44.3% of the total exports (up 60.3% over the same period).
In terms of quantity, all kinds of construction machinery products are growing. At the enterprise level, the exports of domestic enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises are growing rapidly, large enterprises such as Sany and XCMG are growing significantly, and small supporting parts enterprises are also growing.
Reasons for "popularity" in overseas markets
Why did the construction machinery industry sing a triumphant song in the overseas market and rise all the way?
The most fundamental reason is the continuous improvement of the overall manufacturing level of mechanical equipment in China!
According to the top 50 global construction machinery manufacturers in 2021 released by KHL group, XCMG has become the third largest construction machinery enterprise in the world after caterpillar and Komatsu. Sany Heavy Industry and Zoomlion rank fourth and fifth respectively. The total market share of the three enterprises exceeds 20%!
In addition, Liugong, China Longgong, Shanhe intelligence and other enterprises also rank among the top 50.
Countless market reputation shows that in terms of product quality, made in China has long been not afraid to compete with foreign brands, and even "Chinese machinery products are solid and durable, cost-effective", but also stable over European and American brands.
In addition to excellent product quality, the continuous growth of overseas is also due to the strong personalized customization ability of made in China. From emission standards, noise treatment to accessory configuration and component reinforcement, Chinese enterprises are happy to customize according to the needs of overseas users, meet the needs of more complex and worse working conditions, and capture a large number of overseas loyal users with ultra-high cost performance.
At the same time, the overseas service force of domestic enterprises is also increasing investment, and the overseas service system is becoming more and more perfect. Don't you see, the "global service miles" activity of enterprises has become a common practice, which also makes "madein China" a synonym for after-sales worry free.
Finally, the "substitution effect" under the epidemic situation is also worth mentioning. During the epidemic period, the domestic energy mainly manufactured in Europe and North America was absent. With the gradual recovery of major overseas economies, a large number of construction machinery and equipment were urgently needed under various working conditions. Under this background, it is not surprising that domestic host enterprises that have basically not been affected take the initiative and quickly fill the vacancy, so as to take the lead!
Facing the growth test in the business cycle
The hot sales situation is gratifying, but can this trend continue?
The construction machinery industry has recovered since the second half of 2016. If calculated according to the original 5-year cycle of the industry, the industry will enter the adjustment cycle in 2021 or 2022.
Xiang Wenbo, President of Sany Heavy Industry, believes that the construction machinery industry still has some periodicity. After several years of rapid growth, the sales volume of excavators in China reached a record high last year, more than 330000 units, and increased again this year. What is this concept? The sales volume of excavators in China is close to the total sales volume of all other countries outside China.
"I think the growth rate will definitely decline in the second half of the year." Xiang Wenbo predicted that the whole year should be flat or increase slightly. This adjustment of growth rate is reasonable from the development law of construction machinery industry.
In LV Ying's view, the trend of export growth can not be seen at the end, because the price of bulk commodities has not come down, and there is heating demand after entering winter, so coal consumption will increase. Without the influence of other changing factors, the export rate of construction machinery will probably increase significantly this year.
"If we talk about the cycle, we need to reposition." Lv Ying said that the market is so large that it can not grow at a high speed all the time. The growth rate must decline in many months in the second half of the year. At present, the international export volume and the domestic market scale are not in the same order of magnitude. It is difficult to say that it can make up for the vacancy of domestic growth slowdown, but it can play a certain role in balancing.
LV Ying also gave a reassurance about the concerns of the market. "There will be no cliff like decline in the industry this year," he said. Construction machinery enterprises that have experienced the last cycle are mentally prepared and wary of the industry cycle, and will not invest as recklessly as in the last round. As long as you are prepared, the impact is limited.
