In the production workshop of a CNC machine tool company in Kunshan, Jiangsu, more than a dozen five-axis machining centers are running at high speed, and the beating processing parameters on the operation screen show the busy order delivery rhythm.
Workshop director Li Bin said that this production line has been operating at full capacity since the first quarter, and the production schedule of some high-end models has been scheduled to the third quarter.
This scenario is not unique in the first quarter.
The first quarter report card recently released by the China Machine Tool and Tool Industry Association shows that in the first quarter, the industry achieved operating income of 250.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.0%; it achieved a total profit of 6.7 billion yuan.
The output of metal cutting machine tools was 213,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%; the output of metal forming machine tools was 42,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%. Both output indicators continued the growth trend of the previous year.
Statistics from key companies contacted by the association show that new orders for metal cutting machine tools increased by 7.8% year-on-year, and orders on hand increased by 12.6% year-on-year. Enterprises have sufficient order reserves, laying the foundation for subsequent growth.
However, the industry average profit rate of 2.7% also reveals another reality: the structural transformation of the machine tool industry is still on the way, and the prosperity of various sub-sectors is obviously differentiated.
Mao Yufeng, secretary-general of the China Machine Tool and Tool Industry Association, said that the industry is currently at a profound turning point from “scale expansion” to “value creation.”
With the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the development of strategic emerging industries and the cultivation of future industries, the process equipment in the production process will be completely upgraded and improved. A market worth hundreds of billions is undergoing structural and continuous expansion, which will definitely bring more opportunities to China’s machine tool market.
Plotting the operating data of the machine tool industry in the first quarter into a chart, an upward-stretching recovery curve is clearly visible.
In terms of revenue, the scale of 250.2 billion yuan and the year-on-year growth rate of 9.0% set a good level in the first quarter of the past three years.
The data of different industries show an overall trend of improvement with increases and decreases.
Demand from downstream industries such as automobiles, electronics, aerospace, and general machinery has recovered across the board, injecting impetus into industry growth.
The total industry profit has more than doubled from 2.9 billion yuan in the same period in 2025 to 6.7 billion yuan.
Import and export data also send positive signals.
In the first quarter, China’s total import and export of machine tool tools was US$8.38 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%, and the trade surplus was US$3.31 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.9%.
Exports of metal processing machine tools were US$2.29 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%.
In terms of export destinations, exports to India, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand and other markets have all achieved rapid growth, showing that the competitiveness of Chinese machine tools in the global market continues to improve.
What deserves attention is the deep-seated changes in the export structure.
Customs statistics show that in the first quarter, the export volume of high-end machine tools surged by 40% year-on-year, and the average export price of domestic five-axis machine tools simultaneously increased by 71%.
This means that Chinese machine tools are getting rid of the traditional path of “low price and high volume” and moving steadily towards the high-end market.
The policy side continues to release positive signals.
The “15th Five-Year Plan” outline lists industrial machine tools as a strategic focus, and multiple departments jointly issued documents to build a solid support system for the high-quality development of the machine tool industry.
If there is any one item in the first quarter data that best reflects the qualitative changes in the industry, it is the performance of high-end machine tools.
New technologies are deeply integrated with the machine tool industry, and machine tools are transforming from traditional processing equipment into the core carrier of intelligent manufacturing.
Data in the financial reports of listed companies confirm this trend, with many manufacturers achieving positive year-on-year growth in the first quarter.
Downstream demand has spread from traditional manufacturing to emerging growth tracks, and the structural opportunities for high-end machine tools have become more prominent.
Emerging tracks such as AI liquid cooling, humanoid robots, semiconductors, and commercial aerospace have gradually become new sources of growth in the machine tool industry.
Although the overall recovery trend is clear, the first quarter data also clearly shows structural differentiation.
Some traditional sub-sectors are still facing certain pressures during structural adjustments. Although the losses of the abrasives and grinding tools sub-sector have narrowed, they have not yet returned to the profit range.
The performance of some companies also shows a trend of differentiation. This differentiation exactly reflects that the industry is undergoing a profound transformation from “scale expansion” to “quality improvement.”
Looking at the overall situation of the industry, the phased challenges brought about by structural adjustment are a necessary process for industrial upgrading.
As the product structure continues to be optimized, low-end production capacity is gradually cleared, and policy dividends are continuously released, the profitability of the machine tool industry is expected to improve year by year.
Mao Yufeng proposed that we should focus on five major breakthroughs, activate new momentum for industrial development, and promote the industry as a whole to move towards high-end and intelligent directions.
