According to the China Construction Machinery Association to the main excavator manufacturing enterprises statistics, in February 2023 sales of all kinds of excavators 21,450 units, down 12.4% year on year. Among them, 11,492 units were set up in China, down 32.6% year on year; Exports were 9,958 units, up 34 percent year-on-year.
From January to February 2023, a total of 31,893 excavators were sold, down 20.4% year-on-year. Among them, 14,929 were in China, down 41.1% year on year; Exports were 16,964 units, up 14.9 percent year on year.
While excavator sales were still down in February from a year earlier, the decline was slower than in January. Lu Ying, deputy secretary-general of the China Construction Machinery Association, said that the orders of construction machinery continued to increase in March, especially those of large excavators and mining dump trucks. He predicted that the industry throughout the year will show a trend of ladder up.
For the excavator sales trend in 2023 and the future development trend of the construction machinery industry, the major research institutions have also given the forecast. Mysteel compiled the views of five research institutions as follows:
For this year's excavator sales, the major institutions are optimistic, that 2023 excavator sales are expected to achieve year-on-year positive growth. Among them, domestic sales were flat or slightly down year on year, while exports maintained growth. This is mainly due to the following reasons: in the domestic market, the domestic sales base of the excavator in 2022 is low, and the construction of some infrastructure projects in 2022 has been delayed to this year, which is expected to usher in the construction season, driving the demand for excavator. In terms of the international market, although leading domestic enterprises have increased their overseas layout in 2022, compared with Caterpillar and Komatsu, domestic enterprises still have a large room to increase their international market share, and their exports are expected to maintain growth.
For the future development trend of construction machinery industry, both Zheshang Securities and Soochow Securities believe that the industry bottoming will continue in 2023, and a new cycle of renewal is expected in 2024-2025, when the renewal demand will drive the industry demand growth.
