Surging Excavator Sales: Boosting Production to Ensure Supply Becomes the Top Priority

Sales of excavators continued to soar in the second quarter, and increasing production to ensure an adequate supply has become the primary concern for construction machinery manufacturers.

According to statistics from the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, in June this year, 25 excavator - manufacturing enterprises included in the statistics sold a total of 24,600 excavators of various types, a year - on - year increase of 62.9%. In the first half of this year, these 25 enterprises sold a total of 170,400 excavators, a year - on - year increase of 24.2%.

Based on these figures, these 25 excavator - manufacturing enterprises sold approximately 936 new excavators per day on average in the first half of the year.

The domestic construction machinery industry has remained extremely booming. However, the continuous spread of the pandemic overseas has led to some suppliers in Europe and the United States being unable to supply key components in a timely manner. Under this circumstance, how to ensure the on - time delivery of products has become an urgent challenge for the domestic industry.

To address the supply problem of construction machinery and reduce the industry's dependence on foreign suppliers for key components, many major domestic construction machinery manufacturers are not only steadily promoting the resumption of work and production but also accelerating the localization process of key components.

The sales of excavators also had a dismal start at the beginning of the year but then quickly rebounded and the upward trend has continued until now.

In February this year, the industry's excavator sales volume decreased by more than 50% year - on - year, with domestic sales dropping by over 60%. From January to February, the cumulative sales volume of excavators in the industry was 19,200 units, a year - on - year decrease of 37%.

Since March, due to the continuous strong market situation after the resumption of work and production, domestic excavator sales achieved counter - cyclical growth, showing the characteristic of "not being off - season during the off - season". In the second quarter, the growth rate of domestic excavator sales exceeded 60%.

This has prompted construction machinery manufacturers to accelerate production. According to CCTV Finance, in the first half of the year, XCMG's excavator production volume increased by more than 50% year - on - year; Liugong Machinery in Guangxi had an excavator production growth of over 20%, and its average monthly production volume reached a record high.

The China Machinery Industry Federation pointed out that thanks to the recovery and launch of infrastructure investment and energy - related projects, the production and sales of construction machinery and power generation equipment have grown rapidly. In the first half of the year, construction machinery products such as excavators, loaders, compaction machinery, and concrete machinery all achieved overall growth, with the production volumes of excavators and concrete machinery both exceeding 20%.

The construction machinery industry is increasing its investment in scientific research, which can also be seen from the statistical data of the industry association.

The statistical data from the China Machinery Industry Federation shows that since April this year, the year - on - year growth rate of the industry's R & D expenses has turned from negative to positive. Against the background of the industry's revenue and profits still being in negative growth in the first half of the year, the growth rate of R & D expense expenditure has reached double - digits, and 58.8% of the key contacted enterprises have increased their R & D expenses year - on - year.

Excavators are widely used in infrastructure construction such as water conservancy, power, and roads, as well as in real estate development and mining. Their sales volume is regarded as a barometer of the construction machinery industry and an indicator of the economy.

The sales trend of excavators is also in line with the development trend of the domestic machinery industry. At the beginning of this year, affected by the COVID - 19 pandemic, the production and operation of the domestic machinery industry were severely impacted. The main economic indicators in January - February dropped comprehensively, but they gradually stabilized in March. The trend of the industry stabilizing and improving in the second quarter became more obvious.

The construction machinery industry is one of the important sectors of China's machinery industry. The market demand for its products is greatly affected by national infrastructure construction. Its downstream customers are mainly concentrated in investment - intensive industries such as infrastructure and real estate, and it is closely related to the macro - economic cycle.

The China Machinery Industry Federation pointed out that as the effects of macro - economic policies are gradually released, the demand market of the machinery industry will gradually recover in the second half of the year, and the operating environment will continue to improve. However, due to the great instability and uncertainty of the overseas pandemic, the international economic and trade situation is becoming increasingly severe and complex, and the machinery industry still faces relatively large downward pressure.