In recent years, the growth rate of China's machine tool industry has significantly decreased

For the seventh consecutive year, China has become the world’s largest machine tool consumer, the largest importer, and the third largest producer. Taking metal processing machines as an example, it imported 7.59 billion US dollars in 2011; exported 2.11 billion U.S. dollars; consumed 19.44 billion U.S. dollars; and the domestic market share continued to increase, reaching 61%. In the comprehensive ranking of the world's machine tools in 2011, China ranked sixth, two more than in 2010.

The growth rate of production and sales has obviously slowed down In the first half of the year, China's machine tool industry will continue to maintain a relatively rapid growth, laying the foundation for stable growth throughout the year. The slowdown in the growth rate in the second half of the year, especially at the end of the year, was the first time that single-month increases were in single digits. Monthly output of metal-cutting machine tools has continued to increase negatively since July, and the annual sales rate of products has been lower than that of the previous year. It can be seen that the impact of the financial crisis on China's machine tool industry is increasingly evident.

According to the survey of key contact companies conducted by the Machine Tool Association, affected by the sluggish domestic and foreign markets, this year's corporate inventory is 30% higher than the normal year, an increase of 18.7% over the same period of last year. Therefore, in the second half of the year, companies started to restrict production or even stop production to ease the pressure on inventory, and inventory is decreasing month by month.

Export growth rate has dropped sharply According to the analysis of China Machine Tool Network (Machine35), the import and export of China's machine tools will show a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. In the third and fourth quarters, the growth rate of imports and exports will both decline.

In terms of exports, China’s machine tool exports in 2011 were US$7.13 billion, up 37.1% year-on-year. The main products driving the rapid growth of China’s exports are abrasives, cutting tools and machine tool parts. The total exports of these three categories of products totaled US$3.36 billion, accounting for 47.2% of the total exports of machine tools, and contributed 54% to the growth of exports. The processing machine tool accounted for 29.5% of the total, and the export growth contribution rate was only 23.6%.

Affected by the global economic recession and the appreciation of the renminbi against various currencies, exports of metal-working machine tools have declined month-on-month for the fourth consecutive month since August and have only increased slightly since December. The annual export of metal processing machine tools reached 2.11 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 27.6%, which was lower than the 11.7 percentage points in the same period of 2007. It is worth noting that the monthly export of metalworking machines in the first 10 months (except February) has consistently maintained double-digit growth, with the sudden increase to 0 in November and only 3.5% in December. growth of. The decline in the export of gold-cutting machine tools is a major factor in the slowdown in the growth rate of export of metal processing machine tools. In November and December, the monthly export value of gold-cutting machine tools was negative year-on-year growth for two consecutive months. Obviously, the impact of the financial crisis on the export of China's machine tools is evident at the end of the year, and the appreciation of the renminbi has also had a greater adverse impact on the price competitiveness of products in the export market. Export companies will face more severe situations in 2009.

However, with the further optimization of the export product structure of China's metal processing machine tools, the proportion of CNC machine tools has gradually increased, and the proportion of low-value machine tools has gradually decreased. In 2011, CNC machine tools accounted for 37.7% of exports of metal-cutting machine tools, an increase of 3.9 percentage points year-on-year. Exports of low-value products such as bench drills, saws, grinders, and polishers totaled 350 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 24.2% of gold-cut machine tool exports, a year-on-year decrease of 8.8 percentage points.

In terms of imports, the total import value of machine tools in 2011 was US$ 12.29 billion, an increase of 4.4% year-on-year, representing an increase of 1.3% from the previous year. Metal processing machines accounted for more than 60% of the total imports of machine tools, reaching US$7.59 billion, an increase of 7.3% year-on-year. The top three products in terms of imports were processing centers, grinding machines and special machine tools, which were 2.09 billion, 990 million and 740 million U.S. dollars, respectively, an increase of 20%, 7.4%, and -0.9% year-on-year.

At present, in order to encourage exports, the state has increased the export tax rebate rate for some products, which will play a positive role in the export of enterprises. Under the current foreign trade environment, the impact of the financial crisis has become increasingly serious, and trade frictions and disputes will inevitably increase. Many countries and regions will restrict trade restrictions on foreign export enterprises through various barriers or trade principles in order to protect domestic and regional enterprises. Therefore, enterprises should continue to focus their exports on improving the added value of products and optimizing the product structure. At the same time, we must seize the opportunity to continue to develop new markets, so as to ensure the steady growth of machine tool exports.

The decrease in profit growth relied on high growth in the first half of the year. From January to November of last year, the machine tool industry realized a total profit of 17.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%, a growth rate 35 percentage points lower than the same period in 2007. The year-on-year growth rate of industry profits in 2008 showed a rapid downward trend. Profits from January to February increased by 73.7% year-on-year; from March to May, they increased by 40%; from June to August, they increased by 22.1%. From September to November, profits increased to negative growth year-on-year, which was - 4.3%. From an industry point of view, the profits of two small industries in Jinchee and forming machines increased by only 6% and 9.4% respectively, which fell to the first digit for the first time; only the profits of foundry and abrasives were higher than the industry level. Judging from the nature of the company, the total profit of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and foreign-funded enterprises has a negative year-on-year growth, which is -17.3% and -7.3% respectively.

The Association’s survey of nearly 200 key contact companies revealed that most companies are still making profits, and nearly 17% of companies have suffered different levels of losses. The total profit for the year was basically the same as in 2007, but the profit for the month of December decreased by 54.8% year-on-year.

Market Change Promotes Structural Adjustment As early as in early 2008, the state implemented tight monetary policy, the market structure of machine tools has changed, and the general machine tool product market has shrunk. However, relying on the support of national key projects, the market of middle and high-end machine tools is still hot. As the impact of the global financial crisis on China's economy continued to expand in the latter months, most products were affected, and both domestic and international markets fell sharply. In response to this market change, machine tool companies adjusted production in a timely manner, increased the production ratio of mid- to high-end and special machine tools, and gradually optimized the product structure.

The data show that in 2008, the growth rate of China's machine tool output fell rapidly while the sales value continued to increase, and the numerical control rate of machine tool unit price and output value continued to increase. The total output of metal cutting machine tools in 2008 was 617,000 units, including 122,000 CNC machine tools. The output decreased from 2007 to 2007, a year-on-year decrease of 2.4% and 3.3%. The total output of forming machine tools was 145,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 9.8. %. The product sales value of the gold cutting and forming machine tool industry increased by 14.0% and 25.2% respectively. According to a survey of key contact companies, the digitization rates of gold-cutting machine tools and forming machine tools in 2008 were 48.6% and 49.4%, respectively, an increase of 3.7 and 4.1 percentage points.

It should be noted that the structural contradiction of the industry has not been completely resolved, and the numerical control rate of production value has yet to be improved. The proportion of medium and high-end CNC machine tools in CNC machine tools is still relatively low, and it can meet the needs of electric energy, railway locomotives, aerospace, and automobile manufacturing. There is still a lot of work to be done in such industries as high-speed, precision, multi-axis linkage, large-scale machine tools, and high-reliability and stable machine tools for industrialization. Therefore, structural adjustments and product upgrades will also become major tasks for industry companies for a long period of time.

High-growth investment support product structure adjustment In recent years, investment in the machine tool industry has continued to grow rapidly, and this inertia continues. As early as 2008, the machine tool industry had completed fixed asset investment of 79.11 billion yuan, an increase of 46.7%; and new fixed assets of 43.86 billion yuan, an increase of 61.7%, much higher than the national average. At present, the machine tool industry companies must pay attention to the direction of investment, not only to prevent low-level redundant construction, but also to prevent repeated investment in hot products. In response to the financial crisis, the Chinese government has implemented a proactive fiscal policy and a loose monetary policy. The industry should use effective investment for the development of its own superior products; it must identify the market position and develop its operational strength; In order to gradually narrow the gap with imported products, we must make efforts in individualized products, high-end products, and quality and service so that companies can achieve sustainable development.

In 2011, the growth rate of the machine tool industry was not optimistic. It was mainly due to the rapid growth in the first half of the year. The growth rate gradually slowed down in the second half of the year, and the decline in the fourth quarter intensified, especially in exports, with almost zero growth in the last two months. The fast changing situation is worrying. Both domestic and foreign markets are affected by the financial crisis. The lack of new orders, reduced sales profits, and insufficient liquidity are even more serious at the end of the year.

In 2012, companies will face severe challenges. However, there will be opportunities for the development of the machine tool industry in the next two years. The country has accelerated the launch of multiple industry promotion plans and key projects. The industry should pay special attention to industrial adjustment structures such as automobiles, ships, and steel, and industrial revitalization plans. These industries will directly or indirectly provide a broad market for the machine tool industry. At present, it is an opportune time for companies to conduct in-depth market research, optimize product structure, develop demand products, rectify product quality, and improve corporate management. In addition, electric power and clean energy, transportation, defense and military, aerospace, oil and gas exploration and transportation, construction machinery, agricultural machinery and other industries import large numbers of machine tools every year. Enterprises should in-depth user sites, understand their manufacturing processes, and develop products that meet the needs of users. Alternative products to gain their own development.