New Trends in the Excavator Industry: Insights into Cutting-

In the field of construction machinery, the excavator, as the core force, its every move affects the pulse of industry development. Recently, the excavator industry has shown many remarkable new dynamics, bringing new opportunities and reflections for practitioners and observers.

From a data perspective, in the first quarter of 2025, the domestic sales volume of excavators was 36,562 units, a year-on-year increase of 38.3%, and exports reached 24,810 units, a year-on-year increase of 5.49%. This achievement benefits from the acceleration of demand for farmland transformation, new urbanization, and large-scale water conservancy projects, as well as the replacement cycle of 存量设备 (stock equipment) entering from the previous industry peak. It is particularly noteworthy that the growth structure has shifted. In April, as the concentrated purchase period for rural construction gradually ended, the growth rate of small excavators slowed down; while the demand recovery in the domestic mining industry and the acceleration of project construction promoted the restorative growth of demand for medium and large excavators. Combined with the accelerated renewal of stock equipment, the entire excavator demand has entered a period of rational growth. According to relevant person in charge of LiuGong, it is expected that the domestic earth-moving equipment demand will still maintain a stable positive growth in the second half of the year, and the annual growth is expected to remain above double digits. This means that for the excavator attachment market, the demand for attachments in different application scenarios will also change accordingly. For example, the recovery of mining operations will drive the demand for attachments suitable for hard rock working conditions and heavy-duty operations to rise.

The electrification of construction machinery is a general trend, and excavators are no exception. Although the overall sales proportion of electric excavators is still not high, the growth trend is rapid. From January to March 2025, the cumulative sales volume of electric excavators reached 52 units, a significant increase compared with 86 units for the whole of 2024. Its growth stems from the increase in infrastructure investment. For example, in the first quarter of 2025, the national fixed asset investment increased, among which infrastructure investment increased by 5.8% year-on-year. A large number of municipal projects have an urgent demand for low-noise and zero-emission electric excavators; the equipment update cycle has arrived, and the stock equipment from 2019 to 2022 has entered the replacement period, and the upgrading of environmental protection standards has accelerated the elimination of old fuel equipment; policy dividends continue to be released in various places, such as Shenzhen giving a 30% purchase subsidy for pure electric excavators. Many enterprises have laid out one after another. Zoomlion has displayed green unmanned equipment, LiuGong's electric excavators have performed well in high-intensity operations, XCMG's XE215EV pure electric excavators have been delivered in batches to large steel groups and been recognized by customers, and Sany's SY870E super-large tonnage electric excavators have also been delivered in batches to coal mines. However, electric excavators also face challenges such as high technical thresholds (complex working environments, high requirements for battery life and control systems), imbalance between cost and benefit (high purchase cost, and the fuel economy advantage is not obvious), and "inadaptability" of application scenarios (lack of charging facilities in remote working areas). However, with technological progress and market cultivation, electric excavators are expected to reshape the industry pattern in the future, and the research and development and adaptation of their exclusive attachments will also become new market growth points.

In the international market, Chinese excavator enterprises actively expand. For example, the electric excavators developed by Sunward Intelligent according to the European environmental protection standards saw a year-on-year increase of 300% in European market sales in 2024; Sany's 21-ton electric excavator SY215E obtained 20 orders in Europe as soon as it was launched; XCMG exported more than 100 XE270E pure electric excavators to South America. However, the competition is also extremely fierce. At the recent bauma 2025 exhibition in Germany, many foreign brands displayed advanced electric excavator products. At the same time, trade barriers still exist, such as the EU launching anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on some Chinese construction machinery products. However, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have strong demand, providing a broad space for Chinese excavator enterprises and attachment suppliers. Enterprises need to continuously improve the technical content of products and optimize global capacity layout to cope with the complex situation in the international market.

Zhongju has always kept up with the latest dynamics of the excavator industry and is committed to providing customers with high-quality excavator attachments that are suitable for various working conditions and in line with industry development trends. Whether it is the attachment demand of traditional fuel excavators in complex mines and construction sites or the exclusive accessories of emerging electric excavators, we can meet them with professional R&D and production capabilities. In this new era of excavators full of changes and opportunities, Zhongju is willing to join hands with you to grasp the new opportunities of the industry and create new engineering glories together!