52
international
construction
november 2013
Manufacturers at the BICES exhibition
were not overly optimistic about next
year, but some confidence was in the
air.
Helen Wright
was at the show, with
additional reporting from
Murray Pollok
and
Euan Youdale.
S
peaking during October’s BICES construction equipment
exhibition in Beijing, China, Off-Highway Research’s
Beijing-based senior consultant Karin Sun warned that
the slowdown in the market was not over.
The organisation forecast that unit sales of construction
equipment could be -9% down this year, with only a modest +1%
rise next year.
Ms Sun said a particular problem for dealers was the large
number of used machines being repossessed from customers.
Many of the larger dealers in China now have hundreds of low
hours used machines available. “That is why rental has become
such a hot topic for dealers,” she said.
The last 18 months have seen a significant fall in sales of new
machines in China. Excavators and wheeled loaders alone make
up around 80% of the market, but this year only about 85,000
are expected to be sold, compared to almost 160,000 in 2011.
Despite muted prospects for the market, some of the 1,500
manufacturers present at this year’s 12
th
bi-annual BICES
exhibition, which took place from 15 to 18 October at the Jiu
Hua International Exhibition Center near Beijing, were cautiously
optimistic.
Liugong vice president David Beatenbough, for instance, was
quietly confident about next year. “We forecast sales in China to
increase +5% next year – it is definitely a recovery, but not a fast
one,” he said.
“This is a cyclical industry, and we must remember that. We are
working on improving the quality of our distribution network,
concentrating on our service and support offering. Customers in
China are changing, they are looking more and more at the whole
life value of a machine.”
Others, however, expressed altogether more lacklustre
expectations. Zoomlion, for instance, said it experienced a small
fall in its revenues last year and that it expected a further decline
in 2013.
Frank Zhang, senior president and general manager of
Zoomlion’s international trading company, said the Chinese
construction equipment market was still not good, “For next year,
we believe the overall market situation will be quite stable – so we
are not so optimistic.”
Meanwhile, Terex AWP said it has side-lined the scissor and
boom lifts designed for the Chinese market that it launched at
Bauma China last year.
The company’s 12 m Genie V1200 boom and 5 m push-around
BICES
Review
Managing
The BICES
construction
equipment
exhibition took
place in Beijing,
China from 15 to
18 October.
Terex AWP said
it has side-lined
the scissor
and boom lifts
designed for the
Chinese market
that it launched
at Bauma China
last year.
