Industry Report ｜ November 4, 2026 ｜ Covering: customs export data · XCMG · SANY · Zoomlion · LiuGong · Q3 results and localized manufacturing ｜ Full source list and reliability assessment attached at the end of this report
Cover image: Chinese construction machinery at an export dock (AI-generated illustration for this article, not a photograph)
China’s construction machinery export engine is running at record speed. Customs data show exports reached US$53.5 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 22% year on year, with September the fastest-growing month of the year at +31.9%. Latin American and North American markets roughly doubled. And the deeper story is structural: the industry’s biggest names — XCMG, SANY, Zoomlion, LiuGong — are no longer just selling machines abroad; they are posting record overseas revenue shares, building factories in India, Indonesia, Brazil and beyond, and putting the bulk of their growth outside China.
The data: record nine months, fastest September of the year
According to customs data compiled by industry researchers, China’s construction machinery exports reached US$53.514 billion in January–September 2026, up 22% year on year; September exports alone were US$6.952 billion, up 31.9% year on year — the strongest monthly growth of 2026. In the first nine months, exports to Latin America and North America roughly doubled, becoming key drivers of the leading OEMs’ earnings, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East remained steady volume markets.
Machine-level data confirm the momentum: excavator exports totaled 109,744 units in January–September, up 30%, outpacing domestic excavator sales growth (+16%) within a total market of 214,274 units (+23%). For context, Chinese heavy-truck exports — which serve the same mine, infrastructure and logistics demand base — grew 40.5% over the same period, underlining how strong the equipment-export cycle currently is.
Key takeaway: exports are no longer a side business. For most leading manufacturers, overseas revenue has passed half of the total — and overseas gross margins now exceed domestic margins.
XCMG: overseas revenue passes half of total for the first time
Nanjing Customs figures show Jiangsu Province — home to XCMG — exported RMB 74.3 billion worth of construction machinery in January–September, up more than 10%. Within that, XCMG’s overseas revenue rose to 56.5% of total revenue, the first time above half. Custom-built equipment is winning niche markets worldwide: a 400-tonne-payload mining truck developed specifically for South American high-altitude mine markets, multifunctional equipment operating in complex terrain, and an industrial-IoT platform that places every delivered machine under full-lifecycle remote monitoring — shifting service from “repair after breakdown” to predictive maintenance across Europe, Australia, Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
SANY and Zoomlion: record overseas shares, mega equipment in batch export
SANY Heavy Industry reported Q3 2026 revenue of RMB 24.9 billion (+16.8%) and net profit of RMB 2.3 billion (+20.6%), with overseas revenue around half of the total and an overseas gross margin (25% in H1) now above the domestic business. Its open-pit mining equipment has advanced to No.4 globally (brokerage assessment), with deepening supply relationships with BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale and FMG; new-energy mining equipment revenue grew 43% and intelligent-product revenue grew more than fourfold in H1. The company operates diversified overseas production bases in Indonesia, Brazil and Europe, and is explicit about upgrading from “product export” to “industrial export”.
Zoomlion reported overseas revenue of RMB 23.1 billion for January–September — 57.8% of total revenue — with South America, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia and South Asia all growing double digits. Highlights include batch deliveries of 4,000-tonne, 2,400-tonne and 1,600-tonne all-terrain cranes and batch exports of super-large crawler cranes and large knuckle-boom cranes, while its concrete machinery share kept rising in Mexico, Peru and Africa. Its overseas network now spans 30-plus first-tier logistics hubs and 550-plus sales-and-service outlets, with service localization above 60% — an “hour-level” service circle for international buyers.
LiuGong: Africa named the most promising market — local factories as the answer to trade barriers
In an October 27 investor-relations briefing, LiuGong identified Africa as the most promising market for the next five years, with the highest fit for its product platform. Two structural observations stand out for equipment buyers:
- Procurement windows are opening: large African mining groups that previously bought only foreign-brand large mining equipment are now opening supplier qualification to Chinese manufacturers — a share-gain window the company says it is actively pursuing.
- “Resource sovereignty” creates demand: resource nations localizing processing and mine ownership are generating new equipment demand rather than reducing it, according to the company’s assessment.
On trade friction, LiuGong noted it received the lowest tax rate among Chinese excavator makers in last year’s UK anti-dumping case — evidence, it argues, that Chinese equipment now competes on product strength rather than price alone. Its strategic response is capacity localization: the India plant Phase II is already in production, the Indonesia plant is expected to be completed next year, and site research for manufacturing bases in the Americas and Europe is under way.
The headwind: currency squeezes reported profit
One caveat for the bull case: the industry’s January–September net profit fell 4% even as revenue rose 13.4%, squeezed mainly by non-cash foreign-exchange losses as the yuan appreciated; Zoomlion’s adjusted profit excluding FX effects grew 1.9%. The losses are largely unrealized book items rather than cash outflows, but FX volatility is now a permanent variable for manufacturers with over half their revenue abroad — expect pricing adjustments, currency clauses and localized-currency cost structures (local hiring and procurement) to feature more prominently in export contracts.
What international buyers should take away
- Local production means shorter lead times: SANY (Indonesia, Brazil, Europe), LiuGong (India, Indonesia) and other OEMs are producing in-market — compare locally-assembled versus direct-import quotations on delivery time and landed cost.
- Service networks are now part of the product: Zoomlion’s 550+ overseas outlets and IoT-based predictive maintenance materially change total cost of ownership; demand the local service and spare-parts plan in writing before signing.
- Large mining groups are requalifying suppliers: with African and Latin American majors opening procurement to Chinese brands, buyers in these markets can leverage competitive bidding — but should verify certification and compliance documentation per market.
- Negotiate currency clauses: with FX losses squeezing OEM margins, currency-adjustment and payment terms deserve careful attention in long-cycle equipment contracts.
