Excavator Exports Outpace Domestic Sales for the First Time

The sales flash report released by the China Construction Machinery Association on October 12 offered a clear footnote to the September market: 22717 excavators of all types were sold, up 14.4% year on year. More notable is the composition — exports reached 12806 units in September, accounting for 56.4% of total sales; and looking at January through September, cumulative exports of 109744 units surpassed domestic sales of 104530 units for the first time.

This is the first time in many years that China's cumulative excavator exports over the first nine months have overtaken domestic sales. In the fourth year of the industry's recovery, the engine of growth has completed its switchover.

1. September Data at a Glance: Double-Digit Growth at Home and Abroad

Start with the core figures (source: Statistics and Economic Operations Department, China Construction Machinery Association, released October 12, 2026):

• Total excavator sales in September: 22717 units, +14.4% YoY
• Domestic sales: 9911 units (including 218 electric excavators), +7.16% YoY
• Export sales: 12806 units (including 65 electric excavators), +20.7% YoY, with exports accounting for 56.4% of total sales
• January–September cumulative: 214274 units, +23.1% YoY; of which 104530 domestic (+16.3%) and 109744 exported (+30.4%)

Loaders performed even more strongly: 12419 units sold in September, +17.9% YoY; cumulative sales of 117077 units over January–September, +24.9% YoY, of which 58717 were exported, +34.2% YoY.

In a nutshell: domestic demand is recovering, exports are accelerating, both legs are pushing, but the export leg is clearly the longer one.

2. Milestone: What It Means That Cumulative Exports Have Surpassed Domestic Sales

As of September 2026, excavator exports have posted 26 consecutive months of positive year-on-year growth. This run began in August 2024 — that month's exports of 7953 units rose 6.95% YoY, the first return to positive growth that year; full-year 2025 exports exceeded 110000 units for the first time; entering 2026, the export share briefly broke through 60% in February, and growth eased back to 20.7% in September, mainly because the high-base effect of the second half of the year began to show, not because demand weakened.

Cumulative exports overtaking domestic sales carries at least three industry implications:

The revenue mix has changed. With exports accounting for more than half of unit volume, OEMs' capacity utilization and production scheduling depend increasingly on overseas orders rather than on the pace of domestic infrastructure investment.

The risk exposure has changed. Spreading across dozens of country markets overseas is smoother than betting on a single domestic cycle, but exchange rates, ocean freight and tariffs have become new sensitive variables — which is also the direct reason why foreign-exchange losses ate into profits in the [big three's half-year reports](../en/blog-news-20261017.html).

The competitive tier has changed. From "selling cheap" to "getting in the door", the maturity of overseas channels and service systems now sets the ceiling — see our earlier breakdown of the [excavator export map](../en/blog-news-20261014.html).

3. Domestic Demand, Hot and Cold: Operating Rates Are Still Bottoming Out

End-market construction activity improved month on month, but is still weak year on year:

• In September, major construction machinery products averaged 80.7 operating hours per month, +3.32% YoY and +8.45% MoM
• The monthly operating rate for major products was 52.4% in September, -2.73 percentage points YoY, but +1.48 percentage points MoM

The reading is straightforward: operating hours have turned positive year on year while the operating rate is still declining year on year. That means the equipment fleet is still growing and per-machine utilization hours are catching up, while the true recovery in real workload continues to lag the growth in equipment sales. Current domestic sales are supported more by renewal and replacement — above all the swap-out of China IV (National IV) equipment — than by a surge in newly started projects.

What this means for purchasing decisions: if your equipment utilization cannot beat the industry average of 80.7 hours per month, then this replacement-driven recovery has little to do with you; conversely, once the operating rate keeps rising month on month, used-equipment valuations and new-machine production lead times will both tighten. To judge where your own fleet stands, start with the differences in selecting between crawler and wheeled excavators — undercarriage configuration directly sets the floor for per-machine utilization.

4. Electrification: 58.6% Penetration at Home, Only 9.8% in Exports

Electrification is the most dramatic divergence in this period's data:

• Among domestic loader sales in September, electric loaders reached 3385 units, a penetration rate of 58.64%
• Of the 6646 loaders exported in the same period, only 654 were electric — electric penetration in exports just 9.84%
• Excavator electrification is still early-stage: 629 electric excavators sold domestically and 322 exported from January to September

In other words, the electrification dividend is currently concentrated in the domestic market — replacement demand and product-structure upgrades at home have turned electric loaders into the mainstream, while overseas markets remain overwhelmingly diesel, with charging infrastructure, electricity prices and after-sales systems still not keeping up.

This scissors gap is an opportunity for both sides: domestic users buying electric loaders have now entered the zone of scale effects, with the cost curve being spread thinner; on the export side, it means a three-to-five-year equipment-renewal window for "electrification catch-up". For the latest quotes and delivery lead times on SANY electric loaders or electric mixer trucks, please contact us with an inquiry.

5. Regional Structure: The Growth Is Hiding in Africa and Latin America

According to General Administration of Customs data, from January to August 2026 China's construction machinery exports totaled US$46.614 billion, up 20.8% year on year. By region, traditional markets are steady while emerging markets are surging:

• Excavator exports to Asia: US$2.9 billion, +13.9% YoY
• To Europe: US$1.59 billion, +4.2% YoY
• To Africa: US$2.31 billion, +47% YoY
• To Latin America: US$1.03 billion, +60.7% YoY

Chasing Securities' view is that the export drive comes both from infrastructure and mining demand in emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America, and from the gradual improvement of domestic companies' overseas channels and service systems. About 75% of excavator demand in Africa comes from mineral mining, and emerging markets are less sensitive to the commodity cycle than Europe and the United States — which is precisely the source of this round of export resilience.

6. Full Product-Line Overview: Who's Rising, Who's Falling

Put the other product lines from the September flash report side by side, and the divergence is clear at a glance:

Product	Jan–Sep cumulative	YoY	Key signal
Excavators	214274 units	+23.1%	Exports exceed domestic sales for the first time
Loaders	117077 units	+24.9%	Domestic electric penetration 58.6%
Elevating work platforms	171083 units	+29.7%	Exports +34.4% lead the pack
Crawler cranes	3164 units	+33.8%	Exports +48.7%, driven by large projects
Truck-mounted cranes	18354 units	-3.41%	Domestic sales -5.11% drag the total down
Tower cranes	3555 units	-14.0%	Weak building construction; domestic and export both down
Aerial work platform vehicles	3298 units	-13.6%	-33.1% in September alone

The pattern is clear: earthmoving, aerial-work and lifting (crawler) equipment follow infrastructure and mining, with exports clearly driving growth; tower cranes and truck-mounted cranes, which are tightly tied to building construction, are still contracting. Choosing the right category matters more than choosing the right moment — buy equipment in the right track and both used-equipment liquidity and rental returns will be a notch higher. How the global aftermarket's US$54.3 billion repair pie gets divided is also closely tied to this curve.

7. Conclusions and Next Steps

The September data support three judgments:

Cycle position: Domestic demand is in a "replacement-driven mild recovery" and exports are in "steady growth against a high base"; the industry's overall uptrend is unchanged, with institutions such as Century Securities holding the view that the broad recovery trend remains intact.

Key variables: Watch two indicators ahead — whether the monthly operating rate can hold steady above 53%, and whether fourth-quarter export growth can hold at 15% against the high base.

Action items: On the equipment side, prioritize high-utilization categories (earthmoving, aerial work) and avoid categories tied to building construction; on the procurement side, use the domestic electrification scale-effect window to lock in lower usage costs; on the export side, track the rhythm of mining and infrastructure projects in Africa and Latin America.

The dual-hall layout for bauma CHINA 2026 has been unveiled, and the exhibition and policy windows before year-end may further amplify this upswing.

EquipNode provides cross-border trading services for new and used construction machinery, covering excavators, loaders, pump trucks and other core models. For specific equipment quotes, export solutions or used-equipment valuation, contact our sales team for a one-on-one plan.