Statistical Analysis of the Import and Export of American Construction Machinery Industry

In April 2011, the total inventory of engineering machinery in the United States was US$5.167 billion (including raw materials, intermediate products, and finished products), which was a year-on-year increase of 25.5%. The growth rate of the total inventory amount has been steadily increasing, providing sufficient reserve resources for the production of enterprises. The following is a statistical analysis of the United States import and export of construction machinery.

Exports maintained a steady growth In 2010, the total value of US construction machinery market exports increased by 27.88% from the previous year to US$16.42 billion. In 2010, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil were the five largest markets for construction machinery exports in the United States. Compared with 2009, the amount of exports (hereinafter referred to as “export value”) all increased, and overseas markets gradually improved, including Canada. In 2010, the growth was more prominent. In the first four months of 2011, the export value of construction machinery in the United States continued to increase. In April, the United States exported 2.084 billion U.S. dollars of construction machinery, an increase of 55.3% over the same period last year; from January to April, it exported a total of 7.074 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 51.3% year-on-year. Among them, Canada ranked first, reaching 2.14 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Australia, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. China ranked seventh and reached 260 million U.S. dollars.

In 2010, Canada was the main export market for construction machinery in the United States, accounting for 31% of the total. Followed by Australia, Mexico, Chile and Brazil, accounting for 9%, 8%, 6% and 5%, respectively. This shows that its overseas markets are mainly concentrated in the Americas.

In 2010, exports of construction machinery products to the United States increased by 23% to a total of 1.88 billion U.S. dollars; exports to South America reached 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 31%; and exports to Central America reached 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 24%. In 2010, exports to Asia increased by 10% to reach US$2.2 billion; exports to Oceania amounted to US$1.6 billion, an increase of 66%, becoming the region with the largest increase in exports. In particular, exports to Canada increased by 39% to $5.1 billion. Africa was the only region where exports fell in 2010. Exports were only 934 million U.S. dollars, down 5% year-on-year.

The import growth rate was significantly accelerated in 2010. The total value of the US construction machinery industry's market imports increased by 29.96% from the previous year to US$9.194 billion. Among them, Japan is the largest importer of construction machinery in the United States, with a total import value of 1.743 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 68.6% over the same period last year. Followed by Mexico, Canada, Germany, and China, the import value was 1.245 billion U.S. dollars, 1.231 billion U.S. dollars, 1.24 billion U.S. dollars, and 595 million U.S. dollars, respectively. Although China ranks fifth, and imports have increased by 25.31% compared to the same period of last year, the amount of imports is not at the same order of magnitude as the top four countries. From January to April 2011, the cumulative amount of imports was 4.257 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 87.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was significantly higher than the level of 2010. Among them, Japan is still the country with the largest amount of imports, reaching 947 million U.S. dollars, followed by Canada, Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. China ranked sixth, with an import value of 270 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 90.5% over the same period of last year.

From the perspective of import volume, Japan still leads other countries, reaching 19%. Mexico is 14%, Canada and Germany are 13%, and China 6%.

In the early and mid-1980s, Japan’s construction machinery was an export-oriented, export-oriented industry. Exports generally accounted for more than 50% of production value, and this caused trade friction with the United States and Europe. Since then, Japan has begun to set up production bases for construction machinery abroad to reduce the amount of domestic exports.

At the beginning of its development, Japanese construction machinery insisted on the development of hydraulic excavators and small excavators as the leading products. Currently, hydraulic excavators and small excavators have occupied more than 50% of the output value of Japanese construction machinery, and the export share is also about 50%. Hydraulics and small excavators have high technological content and large barriers to entry. This is an important guarantee for Japanese construction machinery to have a place in the U.S. market that is a manufacturing powerhouse for engineering machinery. The above is a statistical analysis of the import and export of American construction machinery.