Sales Revenue of Chinese Machine Tool Industry Up By 13.7%

The sales revenue of Chinese machine tool industry was RMB 802.63 billion in China in 2013, up by 13.7% YOY, according to the recently published “Research Report on Machine Tool Industry in China, 2014-2018” by iAbrasive.

Besides, the report says that the numerical control rate of machine tool production in China is lower than that in countries like the U.S. and Japan though the rate increases in recent years. The numerical control rate of metal-cutting machine tools and metal forming machine tools was 30% and 10% respectively.

For excess capacity, in 2011-2013, the amount of enterprises increased by 20.4% and the production volume increased by 137.5%. The rate of capacity utilization of heavy-duty machine tools was the lowest while the earnings decreased by 45%-50% in 2 consecutive years. The overall rate of capacity utilization was low though that of other products might be higher.

In addition, the prospering industrial robot market in China is noteworthy. It becomes a trend for machine tool enterprises to enter robot manufacture field using manufacture advantages.

Import value of machine tools fell sharply

The import value of machine tools was US$16.09 billion in China in 2013, down by 20.2% YOY. The import value of metal work machine tools was US$10.1 billion, down by 26.0% YOY. The import value of numerically-controlled machine tools was US$ 8.21 billion, down by 26.5% YOY.

Among the metal work machine tools, the import value of metal-cutting machine tools was US$ 7.99 billion, down by 28.4% YOY while that of numerically-controlled metal-cutting machine tools was US$ 7.03 billion, down by 28.3% YOY. The import value of metal forming machine tools was US$ 2.11 billion, down by 15.5% YOY while that of numerically-controlled metal forming machine tools was US$1.18 billion, down by 13.9% YOY.

The import of machine tools declined significantly in 2013, which symbolized decreasing investment in fixed assets in China. Some industries with demand for the equipment were saturated after the peak of investment in fixed assets. The market demand for machine tools inclined to high-end products in China in 2013, the report comments. According to the import statistics, the average unit price of imported numerically-controlled machine tools increased by 28.8% YOY in 2013.

Meanwhile, the export value of machine tool products was US$9.53 billion in China in 2013, up by 3.2% YOY.

The Chinese market still has untapped potential

Problems and risks exist in the machine tool industry though the market has huge potential in China in 2014-2018, including uncertainty of domestic and international economic environment, excess supply, decreasing demand in downstream, increasing costs of labors and raw materials, fluctuations of RMB exchange rate and insufficient technical innovation. Generally, opportunities surpass risks, the report adds.

The sales revenue of machine tool industry will continue to increase in China in 2014-2018 while the annual growth rate will decline to 10%. The industry upgrading and technical innovation of downstream industries stimulate a large demand for machine tool products with an obvious trend toward high-end products. The import of high-end machine tools and moulds will continue to grow though the overall import of machine tools suffers sluggish growth in China, the report concludes.