In 2025, China’s machinery industry will show strong development momentum and achieve both quality and quantity improvement.
Data recently released by the China Machinery Industry Federation shows that the machinery industry has made steady progress this year, and the added value of enterprises above designated size has increased by 8.2% year-on-year.
In terms of production and sales, the situation is stable and improving.
In 2025, with the support of the “two emphasis” and “two new” policies, the overall production and sales of the machinery industry will be better than the previous year.
Among the 122 major mechanical products under key monitoring, the output of 85 increased year-on-year, an increase of 13 from the previous year.
As a key product, the production and sales of automobiles hit a record high.
In 2025, automobile production will reach 34.531 million units and sales volume will be 34.4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 10.4% and 9.4% respectively, ranking first in the world for 17 consecutive years.
The new energy vehicle industry is booming. Production and sales in 2025 will reach 16.626 million vehicles and 16.49 million vehicles respectively, which is more than 12 times that in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 65%. The market penetration rate has increased significantly from 5.4% in 2020 to 47.9% in 2025.
In addition, many types of mechanical products performed well.
Among electrical and electrical products, the output of generator sets was 370 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 37.6%; the output of solar cells was 830 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%.
The production of processing equipment accelerated. The output of metal cutting machine tools was 868,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%; the output of industrial robots was 773,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 28.0%, and the output reached a new high.
Sales of construction machinery are improving, with 235,000 excavators sold, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%; loaders sold 128,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%, and the growth rates were both more than 10 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Judging from the annual operation situation, the machinery industry will show a trend of slowing down from a high level in 2025, while maintaining stability and making progress.
The first quarter had a good start. In the second quarter, the growth rate slowed down due to factors such as tariff fluctuations, but quickly stabilized. In the third and fourth quarters, the trend continued at a high level and slowed down, and achieved rapid growth throughout the year.
In the international market, the machinery industry withstood the pressure, foreign trade achieved rapid growth, and the total amount hit a new high.
In 2025, the total import and export volume of machinery industry trade goods will be US$1.27 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, of which export volume will be US$986.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%.
Exports to countries co-building the Belt and Road Initiative, RCEP member states, the EU and ASEAN increased by 24.7%, 18.4%, 17.1% and 23.4% respectively year-on-year, further consolidating the diversified foreign trade pattern.
Taking Sany Group as an example, its overseas revenue reached another peak last year.
At the same time, the trade structure of the machinery industry continues to be optimized, and the proportion of exports of high value-added products has increased significantly.
The proportion of general trade exports increased from 67% in 2020 to 76.4% in 2025, while the proportion of processing trade dropped to less than a quarter.
In terms of innovation capabilities, innovative achievements in the basic fields of China’s machinery industry will continue to emerge in 2025.
The world’s largest diameter shaft boring machine ‘Qiming’ was rolled out and put into use; breakthroughs were made in core robot technology and the ability to support key parts was enhanced.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the machinery industry strengthened the construction of the innovation system, formed an industry innovation network covering key areas, and the echelon of innovation subjects became increasingly complete.
The steady growth in R&D investment also provides strong support for innovation.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the machinery industry has achieved remarkable results in green and low-carbon transformation and smart and digital transformation.
Renewable energy accounts for more than 60% of the installed power generation capacity, clean energy equipment is developing rapidly, new productivity is growing vigorously, smart equipment continues to make breakthroughs and updates, and the construction of smart factories is accelerating.
In 2026, there will be both opportunities and challenges for the development of the machinery industry. However, with the introduction of a series of favorable measures, the industry is expected to continue to operate smoothly, and the growth rate of major indicators throughout the year is expected to be around 5.5%.
