Overseas market recognition of “Made in China” continues to increase; Changsha construction machinery exports increase in volume and price
August 23, 2024 Hawk
Why Changsha’s engineering machinery exports increased in volume and price
Overseas market recognition of “Made in China” continues to increase, and product technology content and added value increase
Xingsha Customs’ latest statistics show that in the first seven months of this year, Changsha exported 18 billion yuan of engineering machinery, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%. Among them, the products of enterprises such as Zoomlion, Sany Group, Shanhe Intelligent, and Xingbang Intelligent are sold well in 161 countries, and exports to Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, and Brazil have increased by an average of 172.5%.
Faced with the weak cycle of the domestic engineering machinery industry, engineering machinery manufacturers have expanded overseas markets. In the first half of the year, the proportion of overseas revenue of Changsha’s engineering machinery giants in their main business was close to or even exceeded 50%.
Overseas revenue gradually accounts for “half of the country”
Sany Heavy Industry’s international sales revenue in 2023 will be 43.258 billion yuan, and international revenue will account for 60.48% of its main business revenue, breaking the 50% mark for the first time, an increase of 14.78 percentage points year-on-year. Since the beginning of this year, 113 road machines have been delivered to the Philippines, more than 100 cranes have been sent to the Middle East, 50 dump trucks have been shipped to Saudi Arabia, 408 electric mixer trucks have been the first to pass the EU’s new GSR regulations, SY215E electric medium excavator has made its debut in the Netherlands, and signed an order for 2,000 excavators in Indonesia… Sany Heavy Industry continues to make efforts in overseas markets, establish a global R&D system, and develop products required by customers in different regional markets, especially high-end products in Europe and the United States; new smart manufacturing factories have been invested in South Africa and other places to accelerate the global high-end manufacturing layout.
Zoomlion has built an overseas business system based on end-to-end, digitalization, and localization to promote the leapfrog development of overseas business. In 2023, overseas revenue was 17.905 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 79.2%, accounting for 38.04% of the main business revenue, a record high. At present, Zoomlion has built more than 30 first-level business airports and more than 350 second-level outlets around the world, and the construction of outlets has been extended from regional centers to important cities. There are more than 3,000 localized employees overseas worldwide, and products cover more than 140 countries and regions.
In the first half of this year, Xingbang Intelligent’s global deployment has basically taken shape, forming a global layout based on the domestic headquarters, two overseas production bases in Poland and Mexico, and 11 international subsidiaries. The proportion of international business will exceed 40% in 2023 and is expected to exceed 50% in 2024.
Shanhe Intelligent’s overseas marketing network covers major markets around the world, and overseas market revenue accounts for more than half.
The average export price of each equipment increased by 37.9%
Statistics from Xingsha Customs show that in the first half of this year, Changsha exported 15.35 billion yuan of construction machinery, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%, and the average export price of each equipment increased by 37.9%.
From March to April this year, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry exported two 9-meter-class earth pressure balance shield machines to Italy for the construction of the Sicily high-speed rail project, with a single value of over 100 million yuan. China Railway Construction Heavy Industry customizes its products according to European standards and personalized customer needs, and its products are more differentiated and have high added value, which is one of the reasons for the increase in the average export price.
“Most of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry’s equipment has been exported for over 100 million yuan this year, and the average price of each has more than doubled compared with last year.” Xingsha Customs officers introduced.
After the epidemic, the overseas market for construction machinery has gradually recovered and demand has continued to expand. In particular, countries along the “Belt and Road” are the main markets for the export of tunnel boring machines. Demand was strong in the first half of this year, and tunnel boring machines played an important role in the construction of infrastructure projects such as water diversion projects and subway construction.
China Railway Construction Heavy Industry has focused on key overseas projects, and its products are exported to more than 40 countries and regions. It has also won bids for shield machines for tunnel construction in Turkey, Romania, Poland and other countries.
Market analysts analyzed that the increase in the export volume and price of construction machinery is due to the continuous improvement of overseas market recognition of “Made in China” and the increase in the technical content and added value of Changsha construction machinery. In addition, foreign tariff fluctuations and increased logistics costs have also pushed up the export value.
Since 2020, my country’s annual export volume of construction machinery has maintained a substantial increase. According to data released by the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, my country’s construction machinery exports will reach US$48.552 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 9.57%. The overseas revenue of leading domestic construction machinery companies accounts for about 50%, of which exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” are US$21.055 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.1%, accounting for 43.3% of the total export volume.
From product exports to global industrial layout
At present, the overall demand in the overseas market is showing a slowing trend, but the demand in the market segments is still strong. Domestic construction machinery companies are committed to expanding overseas business and maintaining growth in both performance and profits. Based on long-term overseas development, these companies have gradually moved from single product exports to industrial globalization layout.
A relevant person in charge of Zoomlion said that for overseas markets, domestic brands still have growth potential. Chinese engineering machinery products have strong performance, good quality, high cost performance, high degree of digitalization and intelligence, and short delivery cycle, which are widely praised by overseas customers. Zoomlion is committed to establishing a wide-coverage, efficient and safe overseas market system, vigorously promoting the globalization of R&D, and using half of its R&D resources to develop more matching products for overseas working conditions, needs, regulations, etc., to respond to global market demand with global R&D.
“Our globalization is transforming from product exports to industrial exports. We hope to accelerate the internationalization level of enterprises through global resource allocation, better meet the individual needs of global customers, and establish sustainable global business capabilities.” Xiang Wenbo, chairman of Sany Heavy Industry, said.
Yuan Zhen, Secretary General of Changsha Construction Machinery Industry Association, believes that Changsha enterprises are moving from product exports to the global overall layout of the industry, and are building a vibrant global industrial ecosystem in terms of system construction, marketing services and parts supply, which reflects the enterprise’s proactive spirit in the weak cycle of the industry and is also a reflection of the continuous improvement of the new quality productivity of Changsha’s construction machinery industry. At the same time, the industry is also working hard to improve its internal strength and continuously increase R&D investment to prepare for the arrival of the next industry growth period in the domestic market.