The Spring Festival is approaching, and the machinery industry continues to release signs of recovery, coupled with the recent release of a number of blockbuster data, becoming the most watched hotspot in the industrial field.
From the “good start” in excavator sales to the expansion of individual champion companies, from the upgrade of technical standards to the strong momentum of overseas expansion, my country’s machinery industry is using innovation as its sail and hard work as its oar to embark on a new journey of high-quality development in 2026. Every hot spot demonstrates the vitality of the industry.
Good start: Excavator sales soared in January
49.5%, exports hit a new high for the same period
The most eye-catching data is the “good start” data in the field of construction machinery.
In January 2026, my country’s excavator sales reached 18,708 units, a year-on-year surge of 49.50%, setting a new high for the same period since 2021, directly igniting the enthusiasm for recovery in the machinery industry.
Broken down, internal and external demand has exerted force in both directions, becoming the core driving force for the surge in sales.
Domestic sales were 8,723 units, a year-on-year increase of 61.39%. Although there was a low base due to the delayed Spring Festival, the more core factors were the release of domestic demand for updates, the advancement of the electrification trend, and the implementation of new infrastructure projects such as Yaxia Hydropower and the Xinjiang-Tibet Railway, which directly drove the recovery of the domestic market.
Export performance is even more impressive. In January, 9,985 excavators were exported, a year-on-year increase of 40.50%, accounting for 53.37% of total sales. Export volume hit a record high for the same period in history.
Behind this achievement is the continuous efforts of my country’s construction machinery enterprises to globalize their efforts – the prices of gold, copper and other mineral products are running at high levels, driving demand in mining areas such as Australia and South America, and the rapid growth of demand in emerging markets such as Africa and Indonesia has become a new engine for export growth.
In addition to excavators, non-excavation categories such as loaders are also recovering simultaneously. In January, loader sales were 11,759 units, a year-on-year increase of 48.5%, of which 6,466 units were exported, a year-on-year increase of 53.4%. This means that the recovery of the construction machinery industry has extended from excavators to all categories, and the prosperity continues to rise.
Leading companies are getting good news frequently. Sany Heavy Industry’s loaders were delivered in batches, and Zoomlion’s new product signing amount reached 1.1 billion yuan. Liugong and Zoomlion have increased overseas investment and laid out KD factories and logistics centers. Overseas business is becoming the core pillar of the industry’s profit growth.
The leap from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”: more than 500 individual champions in the machinery industry
Home, innovation echelon builds a solid foundation for development
If excavator sales are the “barometer” of industry recovery, then the expansion of individual champion companies is “hard proof” of the innovation strength of the machinery industry.
By the end of 2025, my country’s machinery industry has more than 500 individual champion companies in the manufacturing industry, more than 5,000 “little giant” companies that specialize in new technologies, and more than 40,000 small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in new technologies. The number of enterprises in the three categories all accounts for more than 30% of the country’s total, and the echelon of innovation entities is increasingly improving.
The continued increase in investment in innovation has injected continuous impetus into the development of the industry.
Data show that in 2024, the total R&D funding for the five major national economic industries involved in the machinery industry will reach 763.56 billion yuan, an increase of 47.7% from 2020, and the R&D investment intensity will reach 2.42%, which is higher than the national average level of industry and manufacturing. It is this investment that has greatly improved the supply capacity of my country’s machinery industry in key areas, gradually broken the core technology monopoly, and achieved a leap from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”.
It is worth noting that industry innovation is not only reflected in the construction of corporate echelons, but also in the improvement of standard systems.
Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (State Standards Administration) approved the release of a number of important national standards, including 5 emerging technology standards such as brain-computer interface and digital twins, as well as 47 new material standards, to standardize and provide support for the development of cutting-edge technologies in the machinery industry, and to help the industry achieve high-quality development in a stable and long-term manner.
The triple growth pattern of “recovery + innovation + overseas expansion”: not only recovery, but also these new opportunities in the machinery industry
In addition to the above two core hot spots, the machinery industry has recently seen new breakthroughs in many subdivisions, becoming potential highlights for future growth.
In the field of humanoid robots, Tesla Optimus V3 is about to debut. It is expected to start production at the end of 2026 and be sold to the public in 2027. Domestic Yushu Technology, Songyan Power and other related companies are also accelerating shareholding reforms and financing. The humanoid robot industry chain is accelerating to mature, and is expected to drive explosive growth in demand for upstream core components.
In terms of marketing model, the machinery industry is bidding farewell to the traditional “hard push” and turning to big data “planting”.
Data shows that 73% of machinery purchasing decisions start with industry pain point content rather than advertising. More and more companies share compliance plans, cost reduction guides and other useful information through Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and other channels, achieving customer response rates soaring from 12% to 80%, allowing cold mechanical equipment to reach users in a warmer way.
In addition, the total import and export volume of my country’s machinery industry will reach US$1.27 trillion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, a record high, and the resilience of foreign trade is highlighted; photovoltaic processing equipment, engineering machinery and other sectors have recently performed outstandingly and become the focus of the capital market. The overlay of multiple benefits has promoted the machinery industry to form a triple growth pattern of “recovery + innovation + overseas expansion”.
The “machinery power” is moving steadily towards the “machinery power”: strong machinery means strong industry, and it is worth looking forward to in 2026
From the surge in excavator sales to the expansion of individual champion companies; from breakthroughs in core technologies to the acceleration of overseas deployment, a series of recent hot spots in the machinery industry not only demonstrate the strong recovery momentum of the industry, but also reflect the profound heritage and innovative vitality of my country’s machinery industry.
Looking forward to 2026, the machinery industry will see both opportunities and challenges, but the favorable conditions supporting the development of the industry are stronger than the unfavorable factors.
As domestic and foreign demand continues to resonate, the rate of autonomy of core components increases, and the rise of emerging tracks accelerates, my country’s machinery industry is expected to continue to operate smoothly, achieve effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity, and make steady progress from a “machinery power” to a “machinery power”.
