On February 14, the China Machinery Industry Federation held a press conference on the economic operation of the machinery industry in 2024. In 2024, the added value of large-scale machinery industry increased by 6.0% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points higher than that of the national industry. The revenue-profit margin for the whole year was 5.2%, down by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year and 0.2 percentage points lower than that of the national industry. In 2025, the main economic indicators of the machinery industry are expected to grow by around 5.5%, with foreign trade remaining basically stable.

Multiple data indicators performed better than the previous year.

According to data from the China Machinery Industry Federation, in 2024, among the 122 key monitored types of machinery products, 72 products saw year-on-year growth in output, accounting for 59%; 50 products saw a decline in output, accounting for 41%. The overall production and sales situation of the machinery industry was better than the previous year's level.

Specifically, automobile production and sales reached record highs. The annual production and sales volumes of automobiles were 31.282 million units and 31.436 million units respectively, ranking first in the world for 16 consecutive years, with year-on-year growth rates of 3.7% and 4.5% respectively. Among them, the passenger car market performed well, while the commercial vehicle market was relatively weak. New energy vehicles continued to grow rapidly. The recovery of the consumer market drove the growth in output of products such as cameras, service robots, and packaging-specific equipment.

The stabilization of the manufacturing industry led to stable growth in processing equipment. The annual output of metal-cutting machine tools was 695,000 units, up by 10.5% year-on-year; the output of metal-forming machine tools was 160,000 units, up by 7.4% year-on-year. Construction machinery ended three consecutive years of decline and achieved a bottoming-out recovery. The combined sales volume of 12 key products increased by 4.5%, with half of the products seeing sales growth and excavator sales increasing by 3.1%.

“Accelerating the cultivation of new momentum and new advantages, and actively promoting high-end, intelligent, green, and integrated development, the high-quality development and transformation and upgrading of the machinery industry have many highlights,” said Luo Junjie, Executive Vice President and Spokesperson of the China Machinery Industry Federation. Intelligent manufacturing equipment developed rapidly, with the output of industrial robots increasing by 14.2% year-on-year in 2024, reaching 556,000 sets, a new record high. Intelligent connected vehicles are booming. The application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and 5G communication has accelerated the intelligent development of automobiles. Technologies such as intelligent assisted driving and human-machine interaction have rapidly progressed and spread from high-end vehicles to mass-market vehicles, with a significant increase in the penetration rate of L2-level assisted driving passenger vehicles.

Clean energy equipment is developing rapidly, promoting China's green and low-carbon energy transition and the construction of a new energy system. In 2024, wind turbines accounted for more than half of the total power generation equipment output. The newly installed capacity of renewable energy power generation nationwide increased by 370 million kilowatts, up by 23% year-on-year, accounting for 86% of the newly installed power capacity.

However, weak market demand remains the main issue at present. According to data from the China Machinery Industry Federation, the order index of the manufacturing industry in 2024 continued to be at a relatively low level below the critical value, with the mechanical industry order index falling by about 5 points from its mid-year peak. Corporate profitability is under pressure. The total profit of the machinery industry began to decline year-on-year from March and the profit margin for the whole year dropped by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Luo Junjie said that in 2024, affected by insufficient effective demand, continuous price decline, and a relatively high base from the previous year, the benefit indicators of the machinery industry faced significant pressure. The large-scale machinery industry achieved a revenue of 31.5 trillion yuan for the first time, breaking through 30 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 1.7%, which is 0.4 percentage points lower than that of the national industry. The total profit achieved was 1.6 trillion yuan, down by 8.0% year-on-year, with a decline 4.7 percentage points deeper than that of the national industry.

The structure of foreign trade exports continues to optimize.

Compared with domestic demand, in 2024, the machinery industry withstood multiple pressures, and the total import and export volume of goods, export volume, and trade surplus all reached record highs again. According to the汇总 of customs statistics, the total import and export volume of goods in the machinery industry exceeded 1 trillion US dollars for the fourth consecutive year, reaching 1.17 trillion US dollars, an increase of 7.5% year-on-year, accounting for 19% of the national goods trade. Among them, the import volume was 299.68 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1.6% year-on-year, accounting for 11.6% of the national goods trade; the export volume was 869.36 billion US dollars, an increase of 11% year-on-year, accounting for 24.3% of the national goods trade. The trade surplus was 569.69 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.6% year-on-year, accounting for 57.4% of the national goods trade surplus.

In terms of products, the export of host machines and complete machines maintained a good growth momentum, and the export growth rate of general machinery and parts continued to rise. In 2024, automobile exports reached 6.188 million units, an increase of 26.7% year-on-year; among them, electric vehicle exports were 2.274 million units, an increase of 26% year-on-year. The export volume of general equipment such as compressors, pumps, and valves, and basic parts such as bearings, fasteners, springs, and seals all achieved double-digit growth. General trade exports with high technical content continued to rise. In 2024, the general trade export volume increased by 14.5%, which is 3.5 percentage points higher than the total export growth rate of the machinery industry; the proportion of general trade exports was 74.3%, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to the previous year.

However, the foreign trade market of the machinery industry still faces many uncertain factors. Luo Junjie said that the overall global economic growth rate is declining, and foreign trade frictions are intensifying. Developed economies such as the United States and Europe, as well as some developing countries, have increased trade reviews involving China. In particular, the measures of multiple countries to impose tariffs on electric vehicles, implement carbon tariffs, and the recent announcement by the United States to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods have brought challenges to corporate exports.

The main economic indicators of the machinery industry in 2025 are expected to grow by 5.5%.

In 2025, the internal and external environment faced by the machinery industry remains complex and severe, but the favorable factors supporting the high-quality development of the industry continue to gather and increase.

The "two new" policies to expand the scope of efforts have been introduced and rapidly implemented, which will drive the domestic market for machinery products to continue to improve. In fact, in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the implementation of the "two new" policies and a package of incremental policy measures, the industry's operating situation improved steadily.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, under the impetus of equipment renewal policies and other factors, the added value of industries such as ship and related equipment manufacturing, broadcasting and television equipment manufacturing, and lithium-ion battery manufacturing increased by 19.3%, 16.1%, and 8.2% year-on-year respectively. The output of products such as agricultural product processing-specific equipment, packaging-specific equipment, and excavating and earthmoving machinery increased by 40.9%, 24.5%, and 17.3% respectively. In terms of trade-ins, the cumulative growth rate of national automobile production has been rising for four consecutive months since September, with a full-year production increase of 4.8% year-on-year. The rapid growth of new energy vehicle production drove the output of supporting products such as charging piles to increase by 58.7% year-on-year.

In addition, the reporter noted that the Central Economic Work Conference has clarified a number of supporting action plans and implementation plans, most of which are closely related to the machinery industry and will bring new development opportunities for the machinery industry.

Luo Junjie believes that in 2025, the development of the machinery industry will still face both opportunities and challenges, but the opportunities are greater than the challenges, and the favorable conditions are stronger