Building equipment sector shifts overseas to get in gear

"We'll not stop our acquisitions overseas," said Guo Xuehong, Zoomlion's vice-president.

A plant built in India last year is already operating, and the company is building another factory in Brazil, Guo said. And Zoomlion is also considering setting up factories in Russia and South Africa.

Guo added that because of the mounting trade barriers across the world, Zoomlion has had no choice but to build factories overseas. It's the only way for the company to expand its market share in other countries, he added.

Meanwhile, the Xuzhou-based XCMG saw exports of $1.3 billion last year amid declining exports for the whole industry.

Sun Jianzhong, the company's vice-president, said that XCMG expanded to the overseas market only five years ago. It bought some small companies in Germany and Poland, and its products have so far been exported to 156 countries.

Sun said that sales revenues from the European and North American markets are still small, but that it plans to put more money and energy into building up those markets.

Although the leading Chinese construction equipment makers are optimistic about their development prospects in overseas markets, that doesn't mean that they've already taken the lead in the global market.

In terms of revenue, construction equipment makers from the US are at the top of the list, with a global market share of 32.78 percent, and with revenues of $65.47 billion last year. The gap between US and Japanese companies, which take the second place on the list, has widened to more than $26 billion.

Major Chinese construction machinery makers remained at the third place for the last two years, with a shrinking market share of 15.63 percent last year, down 2.27 percentage points from 2011.

"We can say that Chinese construction equipment makers have advanced technology, but it's still too early for us to take the lead in terms of both technology and market share," said Su at the China Construction Machinery Association.

He said he believes the industry's future growth will be steady.

"We'll see rational growth for our whole industry," he added.