They are Lingong Heavy Machinery, Tongli Heavy Industry, and Xingbang Intelligent.
Thirteen Chinese companies have squeezed into the latest list of the top 50 global construction machinery manufacturers, an increase of three compared to last year, but several companies have declined in their rankings.
The top ten on the list are Caterpillar, Komatsu, Deere, XCMG Machinery (000425. SZ), Liebherr, Sany Heavy Industry (600031. SH), Volvo Construction Equipment, Hitachi Construction Machinery, JCB, and Doosan Bobcat.
This year's top two rankings still include American company Caterpillar and Japanese company Komatsu. Chinese company XCMG Machinery fell from third place last year to fourth place; John Deere, an American company, rose from fourth place to third place; Sany Heavy Industry dropped to sixth place, down one place year-on-year.
Caterpillar's sales increased from $37.5 billion last year to $41 billion last year, and its proportion of the total revenue on the list increased from 16.3% to 16.8% this year; Komatsu's sales have increased, but its company's total revenue on the list has decreased from 10.7% last year to 10.4%.
Cheng Machinery is a fundamental industry that supports the national economy and is regarded as the "barometer" and "wind vane" of the national economy. It mainly includes equipment such as excavators, earth moving machinery, lifting machinery, and compaction machinery, which are used in infrastructure construction, energy mining, and other fields.
According to the above list, the equipment sales of the top 50 global enterprises reached 243.4 billion US dollars in 2023, an increase of about 5.5% year-on-year, setting a new historical high.
It is worth mentioning that the number of Chinese companies on the list has increased this year. The first companies to make the list are Lingong Heavy Machinery, Tongli Heavy Industry (834599. BJ), and Xingbang Intelligent, ranking 34th, 43rd, and 50th respectively.
Lingong Heavy Machinery was established in February 2012, located in Jinan, Shandong. The company focuses on mining equipment, high-altitude operation machinery, special machinery, key components and other sectors.
Xingbang Intelligence was established on February 28, 2008, located in Changsha, the capital of construction machinery in China. The company focuses on the research and development, manufacturing, sales, and services of various high-altitude operation equipment.
Last month, in the "2023 Global Top 20 High Altitude Work Machinery Enterprises" list released by KHL Group's "International High Altitude Work Machinery" magazine, Xingbang Intelligence jumped from 11th place to 10th place this year.
Tongli Heavy Industry specializes in the manufacturing of mining dump trucks. The company was established in 2004 and is located in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.
Overall, there are a total of 7 Chinese companies that have experienced a decline in their rankings. Among them, Foton Lovol's ranking dropped by seven places to 49th, with the largest decline. In 2023, its sales revenue was 678 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 1.6%.
Shanhe Intelligence (002097. SZ) dropped four places to 41st place in its ranking; Liugong (000528. SZ) ranked 19th and Chinese Loong (03339. HK) ranked 32nd, both down two places from the previous year; China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (688425. SH) has dropped one place to 37th place in its ranking.
The rankings of Zoomlion Heavy Industry (000157. SZ) and Shantui Group (000680. SZ) have not changed, ranking 12th and 31st respectively.
Except for the newly listed companies, Zhejiang Dingli (603338. SH), a Chinese manufacturer of high-altitude work machinery, has become the only Chinese company in the top 50 to rise in ranking, rising from 40th place last year to 39th place this year. The company was founded in 2005 and specializes in intelligent high-altitude operation equipment. It made its debut on the list in 2021.
Looking at other global markets, the North American region has shown strong development momentum. According to Off Highway Research, a research firm in the construction machinery industry, the sales volume of construction machinery in North America in 2023 was approximately 330000 units, an increase of 8% from the previous year, setting a new sales record in the region.
Liebherr, a European host manufacturer, ranks fifth, while the other two top ten companies are Volvo Construction Equipment and Jiesibo.
In the latest list, three Japanese companies failed, namely Kato, Aichi, and Koga, which were ranked 48-50th last year.
According to the regions where the top 50 companies are located, the proportion of sales in Asia has decreased from 44.8% in the previous year to 42.8% in the Yellow Table; North America increased from 27.2% to 29%; Europe has risen from 27.5% last year to 29%.
By country, construction machinery companies in the United States account for the highest proportion of sales, reaching 28.6%; Next is Japan's 19.9%; China ranks third, with sales accounting for 17.2%, a decrease of 1 percentage point from the previous year.
In February this year, Ye Dingda, Chief Economist of the China Machinery Industry Federation, pointed out in his release of the 2023 economic operation of the machinery industry that the external market pressure of the machinery industry in 2023 is compounded by its own structural contradictions. The economic operation of the Chinese machinery industry still faces difficulties and problems such as insufficient demand, difficulty in recovering accounts, price decline, fluctuations in the foreign trade market, and uneven internal development.
He stated that the recovery of China's economy in 2023 is characterized by wave like development and tortuous progress, with domestic demand recovering less than expected and the mechanical product market not thriving. In recent years, the accounts receivable of the mechanical industry have continued to grow rapidly, and the large scale and long recovery period of accounts receivable have become prominent issues affecting enterprise capital turnover and production and operation.
At the same time, due to the rapid increase in production capacity and insufficient effective demand, fierce competition in the mechanical product market, and weak bargaining power, the factory prices of mechanical products continue to decline and deepen.
In addition, due to the global supply chain repair leading to trade pressure, the recovery of developed economies is slowing down, and multiple factors such as trade protectionism and geopolitical conflicts are intensifying, the downward pressure on the external demand market of the machinery industry continues.
KHL predicts that sales of the top 50 companies may decrease next year. Because the decline in sales in 2024 is likely to be higher than in previous years, the North American market may not be as strong as in 2023.
KHL also stated that although total sales may decline from historical highs, total sales are still almost at historical highs. The demand for products from the top 50 global host manufacturers will not disappear.