In January-April 2015, the growth rate of the agricultural machinery industry hit a ten-year low

The latest statistics show that in January—April this year, the growth rate of main business revenue of the national agricultural machinery industry was 6.79%, a ten-year low. Since 2012, the industry has shown a continuous decline. January—April is the peak production season for products such as wheat harvesters and tractors in the agricultural machinery industry, and this year's growth rate is lower than that of the same period last year. Accordingly, will the industry's full-year growth rate in 2015 also be lower than last year's 8%? At the recent industry operation analysis meeting held by the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association, backbone enterprises and government administrative departments all paid great attention to this.

In January—April, the profit growth rate of the agricultural machinery industry was 11.70%, far higher than the machinery industry average of -1.28%, and higher than most machinery industries. Since the beginning of 2014, the profit growth rate of the agricultural machinery industry had been continuously declining, but this year the profit of the agricultural machinery industry has shown a recovery trend.

The counter-trend rise in profit was mainly due to three reasons. First, enterprise management upgrading has begun to show results; second, after the fourth quarter of last year, means of production (steel, coal, etc.) declined in price. In April this year, national data showed that the ex-factory price of industrial producers nationwide had recorded negative growth for the 38th consecutive month; third, banks cut interest rates three times after November 2014, which had a clear impact on the industry's interest expenses. In January—April, interest expenses for the whole industry fell by 3.36%.

In January—April, fixed asset investment completed in the agricultural machinery industry grew by 20.76%, ranking first among national machinery industries, indicating that the agricultural machinery industry remains a popular industry for investment.

Imports and exports of the agricultural machinery industry continued a stable growth trend. In January—April, exports of the agricultural machinery industry grew significantly, with export growth of 8.64% and import growth of -4.96%, especially tractors, whose growth rate reached 48.6%. The countries importing more than 1,000 wheeled tractors were Myanmar, Russia, Ukraine and Egypt, among others.

Tractor output of backbone enterprises fell by 7.05%, sales revenue fell by 2.57%, profit fell by 15.51%, and inventory decreased by 20.35%. More than 60% of backbone enterprises saw negative growth in tractors. Production and sales of walking tractors both fell by more than 60%, while tractors above 100 horsepower showed significant growth as before. Output of wheat combine harvesters fell by 7.83%, and sales volume decreased by 3.78%. The output of wheat combine harvesters of five major enterprises including Foton Lovol and John? Deere was lower than the previous year. Small machines with a feeding capacity of less than 3 kg have basically withdrawn from the market, while models of 6 kg and 7 kg grew relatively quickly. Production and sales of crawler-type full-feed rice harvesters increased by about 9% year on year, and half of the backbone enterprises, including Kubota, Jiangsu World and Xingguang Co., had output higher than the previous year. Output of corn combine harvesters increased by 23.07%, and sales volume increased by 2.68%. Due to the promotion of the generalized preferential policy, purchasers' buying mentality was stable, and the launch of the corn harvester market was noticeably delayed.

In January—April this year, the growth rate of major economic indicators of the industry continued to fall, indicating that downward pressure on the industry is constantly increasing. The number of loss-making tractor enterprises newly increased by 36.67%. Some small tractor enterprises with similar products faced difficulties in production and operation, but there was no so-called group-style, concentrated shutdown, merger or transformation. The industry's innovation capacity and the contribution rate of new products are insufficient, and in the short term it is still difficult to make up for the decline gap of excess products such as tractors.

⟦NL> When the industry growth rate reached a new low, most enterprises in the industry remained full of confidence, and the industry prosperity index continued to rise. Backbone enterprises' investment in upgrading manufacturing capacity, improving management levels, and new products and new processes was unprecedentedly large, and the results were also remarkable.

Enterprise confidence comes from operators' basic judgment of market demand and favorable policies. Insufficient supply is the main contradiction facing China's agricultural machinery industry at present and for a period to come, and there are many opportunities. The decline in industry growth in January—April this year was mainly due to tractors, which have a large base and excess capacity. Most sub-industries such as agricultural and sideline products and feed machinery maintained steady and moderate growth.

The state's support for the agricultural machinery industry is increasing. The reform and improvement of the machinery purchase subsidy policy are more conducive to fair competition among enterprises; the agricultural machinery industry has entered the national support field of "Made in China 2025", and the pace of integration between informatization and manufacturing in the agricultural machinery industry is accelerating; the national "National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan" proposes to vigorously develop agricultural machinery and equipment and accelerate the full mechanization of the production of field crops such as grain, cotton, oil and sugar. These policies, which inspire confidence in the industry, have a huge and far-reaching impact.