According to the latest statistics from the China Construction Machinery Association, the industry as a whole showed a steady growth trend in October. Excavators and loaders, the industry's two main products, achieved year-on-year growth of 7.77% and 27.7% respectively. Tracked crane sales surged 71.4% year-on-year, and pavers continued their steady growth, with an increase of over 20%. Tower cranes and lifting work platforms continued to face pressure and remained in a downward trend.
▍Domestic Market: Sales Rebound Significantly, Strong Recovery
In October, driven by continued support from macroeconomic policies and a recovery in domestic infrastructure and manufacturing investment, most product categories achieved positive domestic sales growth.
Firstly, the lifting machinery sector performed exceptionally well. Domestic sales of truck cranes reached 738 units, a significant year-on-year increase of 41.7%, indicating a rebound in demand driven by the launch of major engineering projects and equipment replacement cycles. Domestic sales of crawler cranes increased by 54% year-on-year, and cumulative domestic sales from January to October achieved a high growth of 21.6%, indicating that construction demand is rapidly being released in heavy industrial and new energy infrastructure projects such as nuclear power, petrochemicals, and large stadiums.
Secondly, domestic demand for earthmoving machinery and road construction machinery steadily increased. Domestic sales of graders reached 102 units, a year-on-year increase of 22.9%; domestic sales of road rollers reached 421 units, a year-on-year increase of 6.85%; and domestic sales of pavers reached 63 units, a year-on-year increase of 8.62%. This growth confirms the accelerated progress of domestic infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, and water conservancy.
Furthermore, the largest segment of the market, industrial vehicles (forklifts), maintained a robust domestic sales performance, with 70,388 units sold in October, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%, and a cumulative increase of 13.4% from January to October.
▍Export Market: From Broad Growth to Differentiation, Steady Progress
Compared to the generally positive domestic sales, overseas markets in October showed mixed export performance due to regional demand differences and the high base effect from the previous period.
On the one hand, exports of some products continued their strong growth. Tracked cranes are among the top performers, with 239 units exported in October, a surge of 79.7% year-on-year. Cumulative exports from January to October increased by 23.6%, demonstrating my country's strong international competitiveness in the high-end heavy equipment sector. Truck-mounted crane exports also saw strong growth in October, increasing by 59.2% year-on-year, road roller exports by 27.8%, and paver exports by 48.1%. These figures indicate that Chinese-made, practical, and cost-effective equipment has a vast market potential amidst the infrastructure boom in Belt and Road countries and emerging markets.
On the other hand, some traditional export categories experienced slower growth or slight declines. Grader exports increased only slightly by 1.14% in October; truck crane exports saw a 4.47% year-on-year decrease, and exports of lifting work platforms plummeted by 36.3%. This is due to both a high export base in the previous period and the impact of tightened monetary policies and temporary demand saturation in some overseas markets.
▍Hidden Concerns and Highlights: Segmented Market Analysis
Amidst the overall positive data, the deep adjustment in the tower crane market is noteworthy. Domestic sales in October declined by 16.7% year-on-year, while cumulative domestic sales from January to October plummeted by 50.4%. This reflects that although favorable policies have supported the domestic real estate market, leading indicators such as new construction starts have not fundamentally improved, and the tower crane market, closely related to this, is still in a long bottoming-out process. However, the cumulative export growth of 28.3% also points to a transformation direction for related companies-accelerating the expansion into overseas markets.
The aerial work platform sector is experiencing growing pains. Both domestic and export sales of aerial work platforms declined by over 36% year-on-year, while domestic sales of aerial work vehicles increased by 16.8%, but exports plummeted by 90.9%. This indicates that after several years of explosive growth, this sector is entering a period of fierce competition and consolidation, and the domestic market needs to wait for the leasing market to clear out and a new round of demand recovery.
Overall, since 2025, the construction machinery market has seen a considerable recovery, driven by both a gradual rebound in domestic demand and steady export performance. Looking ahead, with continued strong domestic infrastructure investment policies, the ongoing equipment replacement cycle, and diversified expansion into international markets, the construction machinery industry is expected to maintain a high-quality and sustainable development trend.
