New construction machinery imported used new regulations to increase the share of second-hand excavator

Due to the increase in the entry threshold for second-hand construction machinery, domestic machine manufacturers in 2012 are expected to increase their market capacity by 8,654 units.

According to the latest statistics from the industry, in January, sales of major excavator companies in China totaled 2,287 units, a decrease of 42% year-on-year and a 30.86% decrease from the previous quarter. Although the overall market is still weak, sales figures for the improvement of several major domestic companies are fortunate. The industry believes that the new regulations on the use of second-hand excavator imports contributed.

In January sales, Shanhe Intelligence, Sany Heavy Machinery, and Liugong achieved sales of 130, 120, and 121 units, respectively, and their market share increased by 2.05, 1.12, and 2.02 percentage points over the previous year. Apart from the premise that domestic enterprises have stepped up sales efforts, this subtle change has brought the market's attention to the “Circular on the Transfer of Imported Excavator Materials from Old Type Excavators” implemented on January 1 this year.

"In recent years, a large number of old machines have been used to enrich the supply of the market, and the problems exposed during use have become increasingly prominent. Especially in 2007, problems such as counterfeiting, shoddy filling and parts replacement have frequently occurred. The import market for excavators was extremely turbulent. Therefore, the introduction of this new notification was also announced.” An engineering machinery company in Changsha admitted in an interview with reporters that if the new regulations promulgated this time can be strictly implemented, it is not only used. A standard for the import of excavators is also a long-term promotion for sales of domestic new aircraft.

According to insiders, since the average price of second-hand construction machinery is only 30-50% of the new machine price, the import of used construction machinery has not stopped, and it has increased substantially each year, in ports such as Guangdong, Hainan and Shanghai. In the region, imported and smuggled used excavators almost compete with new ones, and dealers have called these areas the "Bermuda Triangle" and the "Golden Triangle" of the new aircraft. Analysts estimate that, in 2008, domestic imports of used excavators were approximately 28,000 units, accounting for 30% of total sales.

Compared with before, this acceptance standard emphasizes the review of the equipment condition of imported old excavators. In terms of managing the import of second-hand excavators, as early as in 2005, the relevant departments had already established the “Importing Acceptance Rules for Used Excavators”, which made provisions for the import of second-hand excavators in terms of emissions, noise, and the Three Guarantees period, and improved Used excavator import threshold. However, from the management notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce in 2006, these regulations did not emphasize the review of the performance of used excavators.

Huang Zhen, a researcher at Changjiang Securities, said that from the announcement of the terms of the announcement, the Ministry of Commerce has gradually realized that non-compliance of used excavators has adversely affected the domestic market and related companies. This controls the flow of used excavators into the domestic market at the source, providing a broader new machine market space for domestic excavator manufacturers.

It is undeniable that the implementation of the second-hand excavator acceptance specifications will help new domestic machine manufacturers expand market sales, but not all used excavators do not meet acceptance criteria. According to the reporter’s knowledge from researchers and manufacturers, they believe that the 30% substitution ratio is a more neutral assessment.

If based on the calculation of 28,000 used excavator imports in 2010, the 30% substitutability rate means that domestic machine manufacturers can increase the market capacity of 8,654 units in 2009. According to the estimation of the excavator market share of 3.64%, 3.27% and 4.13% of Sanhe Intelligent, Liugong and Sany Heavy Machinery in 2008, it is expected that these enterprises will have sales of 315, 283 and 357 units respectively in 2012.