◎ Chen Weifang
| In the just past 2019, the main economic indicators of China’s rubber machinery industry have improved compared with the previous year. Except that the realized profit was still in negative growth, other indicators have turned from negative to positive with sales revenue increasing by 6%, and export delivery value increasing by 31.2%. |
The concentration of the industry was further improved, and the structural bull market became obvious. Enterprises with strong innovation capability and a large proportion of export have emerged from the downturn in the industry, and sales revenue and profits have increased significantly. Considering that the current production orders of these enterprises are full, it is expected that the structural bull market will continue in 2020.
However, after all, the majority of enterprises are focusing on traditional products. These enterprises are more difficult to operate and have insufficient production tasks. In addition, due to the impact of COVID-19, it is expected that the sales revenue of rubber machinery industry will decline in 2020.
I. Single-Digit Growth, and Uneven Development
According to the statistics of the China Rubber Machinery Professional Commission of China Chemical Industrial Equipment Association, the sales revenue of 21 major rubber machinery manufacturers nationwide reached 7.505 Billion Yuan in 2019, with an increase of 7.3% year-on-year (the same below). Based on this calculation, the total sales revenue of China’s rubber machinery in 2019 reached 10.60 Billion Yuan, with an increase of 6.0%.
The top ten enterprises in terms of sales revenue are, in order: MESNAC, SAFE-RUN, Dalian Rubber Machinery, Tianjin Saixiang, Doublestar Machinery, China Chemical Guilin Engineering Company, Guilin Rubber Machinery, Dalian Second Rubber & Plastics Machinery, New Universal Science and Technology, and Yiyang Rubber Machinery. The sales revenue of these ten enterprises was 6.395 Billion Yuan, accounting for 85.2% of the total sales revenue, and the industry concentration increased by 5 percentage points.
From the perspective of order, it was obviously leaning towards enterprises with strong innovation ability and good international export business. The production of enterprises was severely uneven. In some enterprises with featured products, tasks cannot be finished even working overtime, but in some enterprises with mainly traditional products, task were seriously insufficient. Enterprises with a decline in sales revenue accounted for 1/3 of the total, and the overall industry startup rate was about 80%.
From the perspective of product, the sales of rubber machinery enterprises mainly based on tire machinery fell more, and that of rubber machinery enterprises mainly based on non-tire rubber machinery mainly increased. Among tire equipment, OTR equipment has higher demand than truck tire equipment.
From the perspective of product destinations, export-oriented enterprises have seen a larger increase.
II. Profitability of Industry not Satisfactory
According to statistics, the profit of rubber machinery industry has decreased by 50%, and the profitability of the industry was not satisfactory, of which there were two loss-making enterprises. It is analyzed that the reasons for the decline in profits of rubber machinery industry mainly are that the high prices of raw materials such as steel lowered the profitability of enterprises. It is expected that the profit level of rubber machinery industry will hardly improve in 2020.
The output value of new products of enterprises included in the statistics decreased by 14.0%. The number of employees in the industry continued to decline, and the main driving force was the increase in the degree and level of automation. The product sales rate was high, and enterprises’ product inventory has decreased.
III. Export Delivery Value Increasing Significantly
According to statistics, the export delivery value of rubber machinery industry was 1.905 Billion Yuan, with an increase of 44.7%. Based on this calculation, the total export delivery value of China’s rubber machinery industry in 2019 was USD 420 Million, with an increase of 31.2%.
Ranking by export delivery value, the top ten enterprises are SAFE-RUN, MESNAC, Tianjin Saixiang, Guilin Rubber Machinery, Yiyang Rubber Machinery, New Universal Science and Technology, Dalian Rubber Machinery, China Chemical Guilin Engineering Company, Fujian Tianhua Intelligent Equipment, and Wuxi Double Elephant Machinery. The export rate (value) of rubber machinery industry was 27.3%, with an increase of 5.7 percentage points over the previous year.
With the U.S.A. launching trade wars against China, and the U.S.A. and Europe carrying out “anti-dumping and anti-bribery” on China’s tires, it has set off a new round of overseas plant construction boom in the tire industry. According to preliminary statistics, there are currently 14 tire enterprises in China that are planning production capacity overseas, namely Zhongce Rubber, Linglong Tire, Sailun Tire, Sentury Tire, Double Coin Group, Prinx Chengshan, GS, Triangle Tyre, Guizhou Tyre, Doublestar, Chaoyang Longmarch, Qingdao Fullrun Tyre, Zhaoqing Junhong, Shandong Jinyu, etc. Most of these projects use domestic rubber machinery products first, which has made China’s rubber machinery exports grow by a large margin. In 2020, lots of equipment will be delivered on schedule. It is expected that China’s rubber machinery export momentum will continue to improve this year, and the export rate (value) is expected to continue to increase.
