On October 10, the China Construction Machinery Association released its September market index: average monthly working hours across the main product lines came in at 80.7 hours, up 3.32% year on year and 8.45% month on month; the monthly utilization rate for main products was 52.4%, down 2.73 percentage points year on year but up 1.48 percentage points month on month.

The weight of this data lies in the fact that the direction has changed. On the same measure in August, the figure was still down 5.13% year on year — within a single month it jumped from negative to positive, a swing of more than 8 percentage points. Usage data is the "slowest" signal in the construction machinery industry: it does not reflect orders, only whether machines are actually running. Working hours turning positive year on year means there is now, for the first time, clear evidence of a genuine recovery in end-market construction activity.

September construction machinery usage index: working hours of 80.7 hours turn positive year on year, utilization rate of 52.4% rebounds month on month

1. The September index: three numbers, read separately

The association's release this time covers two sets of indicators moving in different directions, so they have to be read apart.

1. Average working hours of 80.7 hours, +3.32% year on year, +8.45% month on month. Broken down by machine type: loaders 110 hours, forklifts 105 hours, off-highway mining dump trucks 177 hours, truck cranes 83.7 hours, crawler cranes 73.3 hours, rotary drilling rigs 71.9 hours, excavators 61.6 hours, concrete mixer trucks 98.8 hours, concrete pump trucks 34.1 hours, tower cranes 47 hours.

2. Utilization rate of 52.4%, -2.73 percentage points year on year, +1.48 percentage points month on month. Excavator utilization was 51.4%, loaders 57.8%, forklifts 64.7%, truck cranes 51.8%, tower cranes 45%, and concrete pump trucks 31%.

3. The gap between loader and excavator working hours is widening: loaders at 110 hours versus excavators at 61.6 hours — the former is nearly 1.8 times the latter. This combination usually corresponds to two kinds of site conditions: earthworks and new project starts have not yet fully ramped up, while logistics, material yards and loading work in industrial parks have already heated up first.

Stretch the timeline out and it reads even more clearly: August working hours were 74.4 hours (-5.13% year on year) with a utilization rate of 51% (-4.15 percentage points year on year); September working hours were 80.7 hours (+3.32% year on year) with a utilization rate of 52.4% (-2.73 percentage points year on year). Working hours turned positive year on year, the year-on-year decline in utilization narrowed, and utilization rose month on month for the second consecutive month. Chasing Securities judges that August's utilization rate and working hours had already brought the earlier month-on-month slide to an end, and September's data carried that repair forward.

2. The August sales mix: exports held up the market

Beyond the usage data, the latest complete figures on the sales measure are still the January–August preliminary data released by the China Construction Machinery Association.

Excavators: 19,716 units sold in August, up 19.3% year on year; of which 7,986 were domestic (including 184 electric excavators), up 3.92%, and 11,730 were exported (including 60 electric excavators), up 32.7%. Cumulative January–August sales reached 191,557 units, up 24.2% year on year, with 94,619 domestic (+17.4%) and 96,938 exported (+31.8%).

The most important line in this data set is that for the first time exports in the first eight months (96,938 units) exceeded domestic sales (94,619 units), with exports already close to 60% of the single-month total in August alone. We tracked this trend in exports outpace domestic sales for eight straight months, and January–August has now confirmed it as a structural fact. For a finer month-by-month breakdown, see August excavator sales approach 20,000 units.

Loaders: 10,832 units sold in August, up 14.7% year on year; 5,421 domestic and 5,411 exported, an essentially even split. Cumulative January–August sales were 104,658 units, up 25.8% year on year, of which 52,587 were domestic (+17%) and 52,071 exported, up 36.1% year on year — loader exports are growing even harder than excavators.

Comparison of domestic versus export structure for excavators and loaders, January–August 2026

On output: National Bureau of Statistics data shows China produced 33,192 excavators in August, up 18.5% year on year. Output and sales figures broadly line up, which indicates no abnormal build-up of inventory in the channel.

3. Electrification: loaders are past halfway, excavators are just starting

The loader numbers hide another signal: of the 5,421 domestic sales in August, 3,056 were electric loaders, a penetration rate of 56.4%. Cumulative domestic sales of 52,587 units from January to August included 30,480 electric units, a penetration rate of 58%.

Put another way, more than one in every two loaders sold domestically is electric. The export side is still far behind: of the 52,071 loaders exported from January to August, only 2,575 were electric — a penetration rate below 5%. Overseas charging infrastructure and differences in certification have kept electrification right at the border.

Excavators are at a different stage: of the 94,619 domestic units sold from January to August, 411 were electric, roughly 0.4%. Once tonnage goes up, the trade-off between battery energy density and continuous operating hours has yet to be resolved — which is exactly why mainstream manufacturers are putting their disagreements over charging routes for large-tonnage machines on the table. See electric excavators reach 50 tonnes.

4. Three supports on the demand side

Why have exports been able to hold the line? Three lines of logic are being validated again and again:

  • Rising global mining capex: GF Securities expects global mining capital expenditure to grow 50% cumulatively between 2024 and 2030, with around 75% of excavator demand in Africa coming from copper, gold and lithium mining. Chinese exports of large-tonnage excavators for mining applications land squarely in this wave.
  • Restocking by European and US dealers plus AI data center construction: lifting demand for manufacturing equipment and compact machines — a driver that has clearly strengthened in 2026.
  • Domestic replacement cycle plus the spread of price increases: Everbright Securities regards replacement as the core driver of this recovery; Sany Heavy Industry, XCMG, LiuGong and Shantui have all issued price-increase notices, and the increases are spreading from excavators to cranes and other categories. Southwest Securities sums up the main theme as "replacement cycle + export leadership + spread of price increases".

By region, in January–February 2026 China's total construction machinery exports reached US$10.686 billion, up 33.4% year on year, of which exports to Africa grew 77%, to Oceania 50.6%, and to Europe 28.1%, with premium and electric models emerging as new export highlights.

Three supports for construction machinery export growth: global mining capex, European and US restocking, and the domestic replacement cycle

5. Profitability: revenue hits a five-year high, FX is the variable

Dongwu Securities counted 17 A-share construction machinery companies: in the first half of 2026 the sector posted revenue of RMB 221.8 billion, up 15% year on year, the fastest sector revenue growth in five years. Within that, excavator makers' domestic and overseas sales grew 21% and 34% respectively. Among the leaders, Sany Heavy Industry and Hengli Hydraulic grew first-half revenue by 19% and 32% respectively.

Revenue and profit are not the same thing, though — in the first half all three giants saw currency movements eat into profit, a bill settled in Sany, XCMG and Zoomlion's half-year reports. Entering the third quarter, Dongwu Securities believes exchange pressure has eased markedly and sector profit growth is poised for an inflection point. As a forward-looking indicator, the CMI index came in at 116 points in August, up 16.1% year on year and a modest 1.7% month on month — still at the lower edge of expansionary territory, a "recovery amid divergence".

6. What this means for buyers

Translated into specification choices and purchasing decisions, the data yields three actionable conclusions:

Utilization has not returned above the expansion line: a 52.4% utilization rate means equipment is still operating at mid-range levels, used-equipment valuations will not climb sharply in the near term, and the replacement window remains open.

Domestic used supply of export models will get scarcer: exports exceeding domestic sales for the first time means a large volume of medium- and large-tonnage excavators are heading overseas, reducing the domestic circulating stock of large machines — owners with a replacement plan should act sooner rather than later.

The economics of electric loaders already add up: a 58% domestic penetration rate shows the whole-life cost advantage has been validated by the market. For fixed-duty applications such as material yards, coal yards and ports, put electric first; projects that need to move between regions should stay with diesel for now.

EquipNode provides selection and supply of excavators, loaders and concrete equipment for contractors worldwide. For the latest pricing and configuration guidance on Sany pump trucks, electric loaders or large-tonnage excavators, please contact our sales team, and we will put together the minimum viable plan based on your site conditions, working hours and budget.