Machinery / Industrial Parts & Tools

According to customs data, the high-altitude machinery industry in China increased slightly in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022.

In 2023, China's foreign trade started steadily and the trend is improving. Customs data shows that China's exports from January to February were affected by better than expected foreign demand, resulting in a narrower decline in export growth rate and better than market expectations. Since January, as the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening has slowed down, the employment markets in Europe and America have remained relatively strong. The European and American economies have generally outperformed expectations, while consumption in Europe and America has been relatively strong, and foreign demand has exceeded expectations.

On the other hand, the main reason is the order replenishment at the end of 2022. According to customs data, at the end of 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic, domestic production and supply chains were significantly impacted, resulting in a certain degree of backlog of export orders. But after the epidemic eased, a portion of the backlog of orders at the end of 2022 was transferred to January February 2023, making exports stronger than seasonal and slightly exceeding market expectations. The export situation of the relevant high-altitude machinery industry in the first quarter of this year showed the same characteristics.

According to customs data, the exports of China's high-altitude machinery industry increased by 2.8% in the first two months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the COVID-19 epidemic is relatively stable. The dilemma of high-altitude machinery has reversed, with a decrease in scale effects caused by high steel and sea freight prices. Due to better than expected foreign demand and order replenishment, there was an upward trend in the first quarter of 2023.

According to customs data, based on import data analysis from 69 countries (January March), the main importing countries of high-altitude machinery products worldwide in the first quarter of 2023 were India, the United States, Russia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Peru, and Argentina, with the ASEAN market continuing to maintain a good state. It is worth mentioning that the Russian market has rebounded to third place, and it is expected that the neighboring Central Asian market will experience an emerging situation.

According to the analysis of the distribution of origin, China still holds the top spot among the top five exporting countries, with a market share of 31.6%. The other four countries are Russia, Japan, Italy, and Germany. South Korea and the United States, which ranked in the top five in the first quarter of 2022, have fallen out of the top five this year.

Overall, this order replenishment effect caused by the impact of the epidemic occurred in 2022, but after this brief replenishment effect subsided, exports returned to a rapidly declining channel. Against the backdrop of weak overseas economy, inflation and deflation of core overseas commodities, and repair of overseas supply chains, the export of high-altitude machinery still faces a severe situation. At the same time, it also contains many opportunities, and the difficulties are more global.