On May 14–15, 2025, the Sixth Session of the Sixth Member Congress of the China Construction Machinery Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association) and the 22nd Construction Machinery Development High-Level Forum, themed "Opening a New Chapter, Expanding New Horizons, Achieving New Successes," were grandly held in Taiyuan. At the meeting, President Su Zimeng delivered an industry development report titled "Gathering Strength, Riding the Momentum, and Completing the Goals and Tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Construction Machinery Industry with High Quality."

The following is the full text of Su Zimeng's report:

Distinguished leaders, honored guests, and fellow member representatives:

Hello everyone! Welcome to Taiyuan to attend the Sixth Session of the Sixth Member Congress of the Association and the 22nd Construction Machinery Industry Development High-Level Forum. First, on behalf of the China Construction Machinery Association, I would like to express my high respect to the broad membership for their contributions to the industry's development, and my sincere gratitude for their care and support for the Association's work! At the same time, on behalf of all participants, I would like to express sincere thanks to Taiyuan Heavy Industry Group for its help and support in making this meeting a success!

Since 2024, the cadres and employees of our construction machinery industry, together with the people of the whole country, have been guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, held high the banner of reform and opening up, and worked with solid steps, enterprise, and dedication, making new contributions to writing a new chapter of reform and opening up and opening up new prospects for Chinese-style modernization.

The following is a report on the development situation and main tasks of the construction machinery industry for your deliberation.

I. Review of the Development of the Construction Machinery Industry Since 2024

2024 was the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China and a key year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The international environment was complex and volatile, and the tasks of domestic reform and development were arduous and heavy. Our Party grasped the key points, took proactive action, and strengthened and improved macro-control. Since late September, in response to new situations and new problems in economic operations, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, while effectively implementing existing policies, stepped up efforts to introduce a package of incremental policies. Various macro policies worked in concert, and the annual economic performance was generally stable with steady progress, high-quality development was solidly advanced, and new quality productive forces developed steadily. Our construction machinery industry worked hard to seize development opportunities, actively responded to changes in domestic and international market environments, overcame difficulties, forged ahead, and took proactive action. The whole industry achieved fruitful results in scientific and technological innovation, the level of advanced industrial foundations and modernization of industrial chains was greatly improved, international business developed faster, product quality and user satisfaction continued to rise, green manufacturing, green products, and green construction were advanced in an orderly manner, and new achievements in high-quality development were continuously made.

(1) The industry's economic performance remained stable, and major economic indicators gradually stabilized and rebounded

In 2024, the operating revenue of key member enterprise groups contacted by the Association remained at a high level, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of 1.91%; operating costs increased by 0.2% year on year; total profits increased by 10.1% year on year; employees increased by 4.12%; total wages increased by 8.02%; and the number of employed persons remained stable.

In 2024, domestic and international cumulative sales of the twelve major categories of products included in the Association's statistics totaled 1.855 million units, up 4.5% year on year, of which export volume increased by 14.7%, and the decline in domestic market sales narrowed to 1.61%. Driven by a series of incremental policy measures such as the "Two New" initiative, excavators and other products closely related to infrastructure construction showed a trend of bottoming out and rebounding, and domestic sales of excavators for the full year increased by 11.7% year on year.

In the first quarter of 2025, sales of major products and enterprise economic benefits across the industry continued to grow, showing a development trend of stability and improvement. According to statistics, the operating revenue of key member enterprise groups contacted by the Association increased by 16.7% year on year, and total profits increased by 32.8% year on year.

Through combining long-term and short-term measures, addressing both symptoms and root causes, and adopting comprehensive policies, despite relatively large fluctuations in market sales, the overall operating quality and economic benefits of enterprises have maintained stable growth, industry expectations have further improved, and confidence in development has continued to strengthen.

(2) Export value continued to grow, and the internationalization process advanced steadily

According to customs data compiled by the Association, the export value of construction machinery in 2024 was US$52.859 billion, up 8.87% year on year, setting a new record high. Calculated in RMB terms, the export value in 2024 increased by 10.1% year on year. From 2021 to 2024, the export value of construction machinery products grew rapidly for four consecutive years.

In the first quarter of this year, the import and export value was US$13.574 billion, up 7.22% year on year. Of this, imports amounted to US$654 million, up 0.02% year on year; exports amounted to US$12.92 billion, up 7.61% year on year. Among exports to the six continents, exports to Africa were US$1.748 billion, up 44.5% year on year; to Asia, US$5.601 billion, up 13.4% year on year; and to South America, US$1.419 billion, up 11% year on year. Among the six continents, the largest shares of exports were, in order: Asia 43.35%, Europe 20.39%, Africa 13.53%, and South America 10.98%. Exports to countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" totaled US$6.109 billion, accounting for 47.3% of total exports, up 9.44% year on year.

Exports of high-tech construction machinery grew faster, and the leading products by export value mainly included crawler excavators and their parts, cranes, concrete machinery, and others. Overseas investment was further optimized, and overseas marketing and service systems became increasingly sound.

(3) Innovation capacity was further enhanced, and the industrial structure continued to be optimized

Last year's Construction Machinery Industry Science and Technology Festival was successfully held, promoting cooperation among industry, academia, research, and application. The scientific and technological innovation capacity and transformation of scientific research achievements across the industry continued to improve, and enterprises' scientific and technological progress entered a fast track. While upgrading quality and efficiency in traditional fields, the output capacity of high-end construction machinery continued to strengthen, and new technologies, new construction methods, and new scenarios continued to yield application results; large, medium, small, and micro enterprises strengthened cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win results; foreign-funded, private, and state-owned enterprises learned from each other and developed together; the development advantages of industrial cluster areas were further brought into play, and the collaborative capacity of industrial clusters was significantly enhanced.

(4) Multiple breakthroughs were achieved in key basic technologies and common technologies

Relevant units strengthened R&D investment in key basic technologies in areas such as construction machinery power systems, transmission systems, hydraulic systems, electrical systems, and actuators, accelerated research and application of high-end complete equipment technologies and control technologies, reliability technologies, information technologies, industrial software, and artificial intelligence, and achieved a number of scientific research results and application cases, playing a supporting role in the quality upgrading of complete construction machinery.

(5) The level of advanced industrial foundations and modernization of industrial chains continued to improve

By fighting the tough battles of advancing industrial foundations and modernizing industrial chains, key enterprises in the industry broke away from low-end repetitive production and low-level competition and achieved a mid-to-high-end competitive development pattern. Some key core components gradually overcame "bottleneck" problems; the application of a number of new materials supported the lightweighting and reliability of products; standardization work extended from product design and manufacturing to engineering construction and the aftermarket, and a series of green standards were applied in key engineering construction; the compilation of the national standard for snow groomers achieved phased results; and the whole industry formed a synergistic promotion of national standards, industry standards, and group standards; in some fields, a higher degree of intelligent manufacturing and intelligent product application was implemented; digital technologies helped enterprises in digital transformation and capability improvement across multiple fields and levels, and due to the continuous advancement of industrial chain digitalization, some enterprises gradually achieved efficient coordination in technology, R&D, production, management, and logistics.

The independent and controllable capacity of the construction machinery industrial chain and supply chain was further enhanced, and the initiative for self-development and the ability to respond to external risks continued to improve.

(6) New progress was made in major technical equipment and high-end equipment

To meet the needs of large construction projects such as electric power, chemicals, bridges, tunnels, and mining, a number of super-large wheeled cranes and crawler cranes, super-large-diameter shield machines, super-tonnage-meter tower cranes, and large excavators, bulldozers, and loaders were successfully developed and participated in major domestic and international engineering construction, playing a key role. The proportion of enterprises' output of major technical equipment and new high-end products continued to increase, some products reached world advanced levels, and some became globally leading.

(7) New energy construction machinery developed faster

The industry's low-carbon development continued to advance, and construction machinery powered by electricity, hydrogen fuel, and hybrid power achieved scenario applications in more fields.

With the rapid improvement of batteries, electrical components, control systems, and technologies for electric construction machinery, the demand scenarios for electric construction machinery continued to expand, the scale of investment in engineering applications continued to grow, and related technologies and supporting infrastructure were improved at a faster pace, able to meet increasingly higher green construction requirements and operational requirements in special environments. Sales of electric construction machinery continued to grow rapidly. According to Association statistics, in 2024 the penetration rate of electric aerial work platforms reached 92.5%, the penetration rate of electric forklifts reached 73.6%, and the share of electric loaders reached 10.4%.

In addition, in the face of natural disasters such as floods, industry enterprises took active action, participated in emergency rescue and disaster relief, and better fulfilled their social responsibilities.

While affirming our achievements, we must also clearly see that the industry's operations still face many difficulties and challenges. In some fields, weak demand and insufficient orders have led to fierce market competition, declining product prices, and prominent difficulties in accounts receivable collection; some product lines engage in "involution-style" competition, and some increase output without increasing revenue or profit; some enterprises still face many difficulties in production and operation. The momentum of world economic growth is insufficient, and the impact of rising complexity, severity, and uncertainty in the external environment is increasing.

We must firmly seize the new development opportunities brought by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, adhere to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability and promoting stability through progress, uphold integrity and innovate, establish the new before abolishing the old, pursue systematic integration and coordinated cooperation, and continuously improve enterprise profitability and competitiveness in international and domestic markets, meeting the needs of users at home and abroad with advanced technologies, highly reliable products, and considerate services.

II. Judgment of the Development Situation Facing the Industry

(1) China's economy shows a positive trend

In 2024, China's economic performance was generally stable with steady progress, and the main annual targets and tasks for economic and social development were successfully completed. GDP reached 134.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 5%, ranking among the top major economies in the world in terms of growth rate. In the first quarter of this year, domestic demand continued to expand, the employment situation was generally stable, the national economy got off to a good start, and high-quality development moved toward new and better prospects. Preliminary calculations put GDP at 31.88 trillion yuan, up 5.4% year on year at constant prices.

The Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that China's economy has a stable foundation, many advantages, strong resilience, and great potential, and that the supporting conditions and fundamental trend for long-term positive development have not changed.

This year's National People's Congress and National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions defined the main expected targets for China's development and the orientation of macro policies and deployed the government's work tasks. This inspires us to anchor our goals, gather confidence and strength, complete the goals and tasks set by the 14th Five-Year Plan with high quality, and lay a solid foundation for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting on April 25 to analyze and study the current economic situation and economic work. The meeting held that since the beginning of this year, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has strengthened overall leadership over economic work, all regions and departments have concentrated efforts on tackling difficulties, various macro policies have worked in concert, the economy has shown a positive trend, social confidence has continued to be boosted, high-quality development has been solidly advanced, and the overall social situation has remained stable. At the same time, the foundation for China's economy to continue to recover and improve still needs to be further consolidated, and the impact of external shocks has increased. It is necessary to strengthen bottom-line thinking, fully prepare contingency plans, and do economic work in a solid manner. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, coordinate domestic economic work and international economic and trade struggles, unswervingly do our own things well, unswervingly expand high-level opening up, focus on stabilizing employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, and respond to the uncertainty of drastic changes in the external environment with the certainty of high-quality development.

We believe that with the Party's overall leadership over economic work and the whole nation's efforts to overcome difficulties and take proactive action, we can cope with all risks and challenges and maintain the sustained recovery and improvement of China's economy.

(2) The external environment for the construction machinery industry is increasingly complex and volatile

1. Uncertainty in global economic growth has increased, and factors such as trade frictions and geopolitical conflicts have intensified economic fluctuations. The United States' arbitrary imposition of tariffs seriously violates WTO rules, shocks the stability of the global economic order, severely disrupts the international economic and trade order, and will have a certain impact on China's construction machinery industry.

2. Relevant countries around the world have increasingly strict environmental protection requirements. Changes in a series of emission standards, environmental regulations, and product certification thresholds, as well as uncertainty brought by instability in the economic conditions of some countries' government departments regarding planning and investment in infrastructure projects such as transportation, energy, and water conservancy, will have a certain impact on China's construction machinery exports.

3. With the rapid development of science and technology, the construction machinery industry is undergoing transformations in digitalization, intelligence, and energy diversity. The pace of technological innovation is accelerating, and the product replacement cycle is shortening. The application of new technologies not only improves product performance and efficiency but also changes the industry's competitive landscape, requiring relevant enterprises to have the ability to respond quickly to market changes and promptly launch new products and new technologies that meet market demand.

4. Industry competition is increasingly fierce. There is not only competition among traditional construction machinery manufacturers but also competition from emerging enterprises and cross-industry enterprises. Some emerging enterprises have occupied a place in segmented markets by virtue of innovative business models and technological advantages; some cross-industry enterprises have used their resources and technologies in other fields to enter the construction machinery industry, bringing a new competitive landscape.

5. Public opinion and the public are paying increasing attention to many aspects of construction machinery products, including safety, reliability, and environmental protection. Relevant enterprises should actively respond and establish a good corporate image.

(3) Major changes have taken place in the demand structure for construction machinery

Customer demand is increasingly diversified and personalized, placing higher requirements on product quality, performance, services, and other aspects. Some customers have shifted from single-machine procurement to complete-set and series-based demand for multi-machine collaborative operation scenarios; some composite scenarios, complex working conditions, and extreme working conditions have led to increasing customized demand; some have gradually shifted from traditional manual operation to digital and intelligent equipment, centralized management and control of operation-scenario equipment, remote operation of equipment, and unmanned driving and other models; some construction units have shifted from a single self-owned equipment procurement model to combined models such as equipment leasing and construction outsourcing; and changes in the construction machinery market have shifted from a single-cycle model to a multi-cycle superimposed model.

With the rapid development of China's economy, demand for construction machinery has gradually shifted from being mainly incremental demand to placing equal emphasis on stock renewal and new demand, or to a stage dominated by stock renewal.

These changes have placed higher requirements on industry enterprises. Relevant enterprises should deeply understand the long-term impact of demand changes, continuously adjust product structures, strengthen technological innovation, and improve capability levels to adapt to market changes and customer needs and remain invincible in competition.

(4) Major economic indicators of the industry are expected to grow steadily in 2025

In 2025, the state will implement more proactive and effective macro policies, make full and good use of a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, and play a good "combination punch" of policies. As macro-control efforts increase and policy effects combine and intensify, favorable factors supporting the stable operation and high-quality development of the industry will continue to gather and increase, and the development environment for China's construction machinery industry will steadily improve. Although the adverse effects brought by changes in the external environment have increased and the international situation is severe and complex, thanks to China's construction machinery technology, products, and services being increasingly recognized and accepted by international users and the continuous improvement and upgrading of industry enterprises' overseas business layouts, the industry's export value will still remain at a relatively high level this year.

Based on comprehensive judgment, it is expected that in 2025 China's construction machinery industry will continue to show a development trend of stable operation and steady progress, major economic indicators will grow steadily, and foreign trade will remain basically stable.