"In the first half of this year, the overall situation of concrete machinery, especially construction hoisting machinery, was very serious, with an average decline of about 55%." "In recent months, the market for both coal and sand aggregate has slowed down, maintaining a double-digit growth in the first half of the year, but the growth rate of the domestic market has shrunk significantly in recent two to three months." "In the first half of this year, the sales volume of the excavator industry was basically close to" halving ", and it was going through the most difficult period in nearly a decade." At the 19th China Construction Machinery Development High level Forum held recently, enterprise representatives said that the market had been greatly impacted this year.
At the same time, the representatives of construction machinery enterprises who are going through the downturn also expressed full confidence in the market prospect, believing that the market is expected to gradually recover through active adjustment and the greatest possible effort, plus the release of positive signals in the second half of the year. At the forum, people in the industry conducted in-depth discussions around the "new stage, new pattern and new achievements".
A new cycle goes against the trend
Even in the state of market decline, many enterprises still maintained stable and stable growth.
Wu Qingfeng, general manager of Inner Mongolia North Heavy Duty Truck Co., Ltd., said that in the first half of this year, the company continued to promote the "three intelligent construction" of intelligent manufacturing, smart products and smart parks, and has realized the operation of 200 driverless mining cars in 15 mines in China; Through continuous exploration of scenes and continuous improvement and maturity of technology, the construction of smart mines has been promoted. The promotion and application of new technologies have promoted product sales. At the same time, with the mining situation entering a strong cycle, in the first half of the year, the sales of products of Northern Stock increased by 68% over the same period last year, realizing the bulk sales of mining trucks, accelerating the pace of product internationalization, and expanding to 67 countries and regions.
Xigang Kishi, general manager of KOSCO Construction Machinery (China) Co., Ltd., said that this year, excavators ushered in a transition period of "National IV" switch and a real electrification period. In the future, remote operation represented by driverless or 5G or even 6G technology in this industry will become mainstream around 2030. In the first half of this year, KOSCO closed its second factory in Hangzhou and integrated it into its first factory, Chengdu. When the market recovers in the future, the excavator output of a single factory will also exceed 7000 sets, which can ensure the market supply of the enterprise.
Zhang Min, general manager of Shantui Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., said that in the first half of the year, the construction machinery market was a double heaven of ice and fire. On the one hand, taking the bulldozer market as an example, only 3893 units were sold from January to July this year, which basically cut the sales volume. On the other hand, the export market in the first half of the year witnessed the most significant growth compared with that in the past decade. In order to seize the development opportunities, Shantui has made great efforts to promote the international and domestic double cycle, and has focused on the three aspects of high horsepower, new energy and smart construction. Among them, smart construction is the top priority of enterprise development, focusing on earthwork, roads and mines.
Zhou Jun, general manager of Anhui Heli Co., Ltd., said that the forklift products developed by the company belong to the field of industrial vehicles. In recent years, the company has successfully achieved product transformation through technological innovation. Similar to the general trend of the construction machinery industry, Anhui Heli's export volume in the first half of this year witnessed a substantial increase, hitting a new historical high. In combination with these aspects, although the company's industrial vehicle sales volume fell by 11% in the first half of this year, the revenue and profit of Heli achieved positive growth.
Layout high-end global market
In the face of market risks, many enterprises have made a layout in terms of intelligence and green. Jia Shangqing, the vice general manager of Jiangsu Hengli Hydraulic Co., Ltd., said that as a component manufacturer, Hengli Hydraulic has closely followed the development of the main engine plant of construction machinery, and at this stage, it is mainly developing in three aspects: intelligence, electrification and internationalization.
In terms of automatic production lines, Hengli Hydraulic introduced 14 FMS flexible production lines, including automatic detection lines, automatic heat treatment lines, etc. The company also carried out large-scale layout. In 2022, Hengli Hydraulic invested 3 billion yuan to establish Hengli Electric Control in Nanjing to research, develop and manufacture electric drive, electric control and other system products of construction machinery. At the same time, the company invested 2 billion yuan to establish a production factory for electric cylinder products.
In terms of internationalization, in recent years, Hengli Hydraulics has begun its in-depth globalization layout. Including an investment of 1.5 billion yuan to build new factories in Mexico; Expansion of factories in the United States, Germany, Japan and other places; In Indonesia, India, Brazil, Vietnam and other regions, local sales and service teams, warehousing and remanufacturing supporting facilities have been established.
Li Yuansong, chief engineer of Hangzhou Fork Group Co., Ltd., said that in terms of new energy, smart, green and service-oriented are the three major development directions of Hangzhou Fork. Among them, greening is to turn to new energy industrial vehicles. In July last year, Hangzhou Fork proposed to strive to switch the whole series of products to lithium batteries and fuel cells by 2025, and proposed to follow two technical routes, mainly lithium batteries and supplemented by fuel cell forklift products. Now the internal combustion forklift and new energy forklift account for 50% respectively.
Su Zimeng, president of China Construction Machinery Industry Association, said that China's economy is still facing many risks and challenges as it continues to recover and keep operating within a reasonable range. Guided by the policy orientation of stabilizing expectations and employment, China's investment in infrastructure and manufacturing will grow steadily. In addition, the steady growth measures in various regions and fields continue to be implemented, and China's construction machinery exports continue to maintain strong resilience. It is expected that the industry will continue to show a stable operation trend in 2023.
With regard to the main tasks of high-quality development of the industry in the next step, Su Zimeng pointed out that we should carefully study and understand the spirit of the meeting of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and integrate ideas and actions into the decision-making and deployment of the central government; Go all out to continue to fight the battle for upgrading the industrial base and modernizing the industrial chain; We should adhere to the international development strategy and promote the open development of the construction machinery industry; Accelerate the transformation of industrial kinetic energy and show new achievements in the new market competition; We should make full use of all kinds of enterprise aid and rescue policies to promote the high-quality development of the construction machinery industry to a new level.
