China's Manufacturing PMI for December 2024 was 50.1, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.24%. This suggests that demand has been picking up over the previous three months, potentially alleviating deflationary pressures. However, the PMI for January 2025 dropped to 49.1, reflecting a year-over-year decline of 0.2%. This decrease was primarily due to the public holidays associated with the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration in January, which can last a week or more.
The following are highlights and indicators of China’s machine tool industry from January to November 2024, according to data from the China Machine Tool and Tool Builders’ Association (CMTBA):
Revenue from the machine tool industry declined 5.6% year over year to approximately $128.3 billion. Included in this figure are year-over-year revenue increases of 6.7% for metal-cutting machines and 5.5% for metal-forming machines. New orders for metal-working machines rose by 3.7% year over year.
Orders on hand increased by 4.6% year over year. The output of metal-cutting machines from enterprises of designated size reached 612,000 units, an increase of 8.14% year over year. The output of metal-forming machines was 144,000 units, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.3%.
The total import and export value of machine tool products was $28.79 billion, a year-over-year decrease of 1.2%. Of this amount, imports totaled $9.19 billion, down 9.4% year over year, while exports were $19.59 billion, up 3.2% year over year. Metal-cutting machine imports stood at $4.33 billion, a decline of 7.9% year over year, with exports remaining flat at $5.04 billion year over year. Metal-forming machine imports significantly decreased by 28.7% year over year, totaling $620 million, while exports increased by 14.3% year over year to $2.3 billion.
A few recently announced projects and investment news items are listed below.
Nanjing Soliner Hydraulic Technology will invest $68.49 million to kick off its project to build a hydraulic components production line.
Inovance Technology plans to invest $684 million to build a facility and purchase equipment for stator, rotor, and motor assembly production lines for EVs.
UAES will invest $177 million in Taicang to manufacture EV components. The project includes purchasing equipment to reach an annual output of 1.1 million units of driving motors and 440,000 kits of electric axles.
Tianjin HJTEEK Transmission will invest $30.34 million to manufacture wind power gearboxes, purchasing turning, gear-shaping, gear-milling, cleaning, and press machines. The total expected annual output is around 500 units.
Jinan Runli Industrial Robots plans to invest $219 million to build a new facility and purchase equipment and ancillaries for the manufacture of industrial robots.
Foxconn New EV Industrial Development will invest $137 million in establishing an EV R&D center in Zhengzhou.
Jiangxi Zhenyuan Energy Equipment will invest $48.21 million in medium-high pressure air compressor production lines, with an annual output of 5,000 sets.
Anhui Qiangmao announced investments worth $34.25 million to build capacity to manufacture reductors with annual output of 200,000 sets.
Shenzhen Shuye Creative will invest $68.49 million to build a new facility in Zhuhai. The investment aims to increase capacity to reach an annual output of 10 million units of hair dryers, 8 million units of electric toothbrushes, and 5 million units of shavers.
For more information, please contact Fred Qian at fredqian@AMTchina.org
