CCTV factory visit! Sales surged in the first quarter, and Sany Heavy Machinery was at full capacity

With the major engineering projects in many places across the country fully entering the "acceleration run" stage, the construction machinery industry has ushered in the traditional start and sales season. On April 8, CCTV Finance's "Economic News Network" column broadcast a special report "Domestic excavator sales increased sharply in the first quarter of the spring start" and "Construction machinery enterprises are expected to welcome a new round of replacement cycle".

By quoting the excavator index and visiting the production workshop of Sany Heavy Machinery, the report vividly shows the busy scene of domestic excavator manufacturers running at full capacity and putting into full production.

Excerpts from the report

At the construction site of Qianhai International Hub Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong, dozens of construction machinery and equipment are in full operation. The person in charge of the project told reporters that since the first quarter of this year, they have continued to speed up the project, continue to increase the investment in construction machinery, and seize the golden period of construction.

middleQiu Wei, Chief Engineer of the Qianhai International Hub Center Project of the Eighth Construction Bureau of Shenzhen Railway: Our project is a large-scale comprehensive transportation hub with six underground floors, and the depth of the foundation pit is more than 30 meters. In the first quarter, we invested a lot in machinery and equipment, and have invested more than 40 units so far. In the follow-up construction period, it is expected that we will invest more than 80 sets of excavators and other large machinery and equipment.

In the first quarter, the gradual development of infrastructure projects was also transmitted to the upstream construction machinery industry. The excavator index shows that in the first two months of this year, the average operating rate of construction machinery in the country was 37.38%, an increase of 2.91 percentage points compared with the same period in 2024.

During the visit, the reporter learned that the orders of many construction machinery manufacturers have risen sharply. In the face of a rapid increase in orders, the entire supply chain is running at full capacity. In order to get the goods in time, excavator manufacturers have to go to the upstream supply chain enterprises to urge orders.

He Pengfei, head of the operation headquarters of Sany Heavy Machinery: Including our outsourcing suppliers, they are basically blown up by us now. Now our commercial, procurement, and logistics engineers are basically stationed in some of our outsourcing factories for a long time to urge goods, and they are also in short supply.

According to the data, from January to March 2025, 61,372 excavators were sold, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%. Among them, domestic sales were 36,562 units, a year-on-year increase of 38.3%, and exports were 24,810 units, a year-on-year increase of 5.49%.

The growth of excavator sales directly led to the full capacity of domestic excavator manufacturers. In Kunshan, Jiangsu, Jia Hailiang, the head of the equipment work center of an excavator manufacturer, is busy and busy. He told reporters that since the beginning of this year, the market demand has been very strong, and he often has to work overtime until 10 o'clock in the evening.

Jia Hailiang, team leader of Sany Heavy Machinery Assembly Work Center: I am rushing to follow the time. Now there are indeed more orders, and they are more urgent. We now have the entire production line, and basically every day the production task is at full capacity.

During the visit, the reporter found that many companies' orders have been scheduled to the third quarter, and in order to improve efficiency, many employees in management positions are also involved in the first-line production line.

According to the analysis of industry insiders, the service life of excavators is about eight years, according to this cycle, the replacement of excavators in 2023 will be 66,100 units, recover to 80,600 units in 2024, and increase to 128,900 units in 2025, and the construction machinery industry is expected to usher in a new round of centralized replacement cycle in 2025.

Wang Zheng, General Manager of Sany Heavy Machinery: This year, with various factors, we see the demand for upgrading, the support of some national projects, and so on. We expect 15 to 20 percent growth for the full year, which is a little bit more optimistic than the 10 to 15 percent I predicted last year.