This year, the internationalization wave of China’s construction machinery industry has obviously accelerated.
What is remarkable is that not only are giant equipment frequently exported overseas, but those domestically produced machines that are small in size are also gradually becoming popular in the international market.
“Small” products such as mini excavators, small lawn mowers and electric tricycles are experiencing substantial growth in order volume by virtue of their unique advantages and precise market positioning.
Taking Jining, Shandong as an example, local companies promoted new products through live broadcasts of factories, successfully attracting the attention of global customers.
Among them, mini excavators have become a hot item overnight.
This is mainly due to the experience evaluation of foreign bloggers.
A mini excavator that weighs only 1.2 tons and costs less than $2,000 is very flexible in operation in a variety of scenarios.
The related video has been circulated more than 4 million times, bringing a large number of overseas orders to the company.
After the traffic is converted into sales, the company takes advantage of the trend and signs contracts with Internet celebrities to be responsible for the overseas promotion of products.
The key to the explosion of mini excavator exports lies in its cost advantage.
The local procurement rate exceeds 80%. Through technological upgrades and a complete industrial chain, the selling price of similar products is only one-third to one-quarter of foreign products.
Its shipments have increased rapidly, with the average monthly export reaching more than 200 units. The company has even set up warehouses overseas to optimize logistics.
It is expected that by 2025, the output will exceed 15,000 units, with exports accounting for 75%.
The company also found that overseas users’ home courtyards were the main usage scenarios, so the focus of research and development shifted from “volume reduction” to “scene customization”, creating new models that are compact but powerful in performance, and continuously expanding the product’s application areas.
As market competition intensifies, some companies have proactively adjusted their strategies and expanded from mini excavators to new categories such as lawn mowers.
With the help of mature local industrial clusters and supporting ecology, efficient R&D and production are achieved.
The person in charge of the company keenly captured the market changes and transformed into the production of customized small crawler lawn mowers. Its technology is in line with that of excavators. Most of the parts can be purchased locally in Jining High-tech Zone, which greatly optimizes the cost and production cycle.
Electric tricycles have also become a rising star in exports.
Manufacturing companies in Suining, Sichuan, originally focused on the domestic market, but this year began to try to go overseas.
Its products cover a variety of uses and are customized with voice prompts in six languages.
After obtaining overseas certification, the order volume not only increased significantly, but also promoted the company to expand production and build factories. Five vehicle companies in Anju District have followed suit.
It is expected to exceed 100,000 units in 2026, with overseas sales reaching 40%.
These “small” equipment are popular overseas. They no longer rely solely on price advantages, but rely on technological innovation, supply chain collaboration and flexible services to meet the diverse needs of overseas users.
They avoid the traditional track of large-scale projects and accurately grasp family and individual application scenarios, fully demonstrating the new competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing in terms of speed, quality and innovation.
As competition in market segments becomes increasingly fierce, only by continuously improving shortcomings, continuing to innovate, and strengthening scene customization can “small” products gain a firm foothold in the global market.
Which small products made in China do you think have the potential to go overseas?
Or have you discovered any innovative application scenarios that are emerging one after another?
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