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Last year, the sales of excavators, which reflect the "barometer" of the construction machinery industry, continued to rise, among which the domestic sales increased by nearly 18% year-on-year, and the overseas sales exceeded 110,000 units for the first time, setting a record high.
According to the statistics of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, in 2025, major excavator manufacturers will sell a total of 235,257 excavators, an increase of 17% year-on-year; domestic sales will be 118,518 units, an increase of 17.9% year-on-year; and export 116,739 units, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year.
Especially at the end of the year, the growth momentum was stronger. In December last year, 23,095 sets of various excavators were sold in a single month, an increase of 19.2% year-on-year, of which 10,331 units were sold in China, an increase of 10.9% year-on-year; 12,764 units were exported, with a year-on-year growth rate of 26.9%, which became the main driving force.
According to the reporter of Pengpai News, in the past five years, the domestic excavator market has shown a trend of "domestic sales rebounding from the bottom and export sales gradually rising". The total sales volume of excavators gradually fell from 342,800 units in 2021 to 195,000 units in 2023, and slightly increased to 201,100 units in 2024. Among them, domestic sales have undergone a deep adjustment, with a year-on-year decline of more than 40% in 2022 and 2023, and it will not be until 2024 to reverse the decline and achieve a growth of 11.7%.
At the same time, the overseas market has risen strongly since 2021, with sales continuing to expand from 68,400 units to more than 100,000 units, and achieving breakthrough growth in 2025.
Last year, the sales of loaders, as another important category of construction machinery, also increased significantly. According to the data of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, in 2025, major loader manufacturers sold a total of 128,067 loaders, an increase of 18.4% year-on-year, of which the domestic and export markets increased by 22.1% and 14.6% respectively.
The industry said that China's construction machinery industry has basically got rid of the shackles of the previous domestic single market cycle fluctuations. The growth model of domestic stock renewal and overseas emerging demand is becoming clearer and clearer. The improvement of its global market share is gaining strong support from diversified markets and strong product competitiveness.
At the same time, many brokerage research reports pointed out that there are structural differences in the driving forces that drive the growth of the domestic and overseas construction machinery markets. For the domestic market, Guotai Haitong Securities believes that with the gradual development of the countercyclical fiscal policy and the cyclical improvement of the industry, the growth rate of domestic sales of domestic excavators is expected to continue to recover. Oriental Securities said that the trend of manual substitution of domestic small excavators will continue to bring stable growth to the industry.
In overseas markets, growth is considered to be related to global resource development activities. Oriental Securities said that China's excavators are mainly exported large-tonnage excavators mostly used in mining scenarios. Take November 2025 as an example, the average tonnage of excavators imported from China in Russia, Guinea, Mali and Saudi Arabia exceeded 20 tons, and the average tonnage of excavators imported from Indonesia, the Philippines and Turkey was 16 tons to 18 tons. The agency believes that the rise in global commodity prices is expected to drive the development of mines in the corresponding countries, thereby improving the sustainability of China's excavator exports.
Oriental Securities expects that the overseas market of construction machinery will continue to grow in 2026, coupled with the structural recovery opportunities in China, and the overall economic situation of the industry is expected to continue to rise.
