Shantui launches largest ever dozer
19 October 2011
67.5 tonne machine unveiled at BICES in the face of difficult Chinese market conditions but growing exports.
Shantui has taken used the BICES exhibition in Beijing to launch its largest ever dozer, the 67.5 tonne SD52-5. According to company vice president Li Dianhe, dozers will continue to be the first priority for Shantui's export efforts.
The new machine is powered by a 392 kW Cummins QSK 19 diesel engine, and has a blade capacity of 18.5 m3 and Mr Li said it has been launched in the face of difficult market conditions in China.
"From this April, the market for construction equipment dropped a lot, especially for earthmoving equipment. The fall was around -30% to -40%. The Chinese government tightened monetary policy, so people can't get loans to buy equipment and some large projects are also short of funding. Our experience is that the market usually picks up in October, but this year will be an exception. The first quarter of next year will also be hard for our industry," he said.
However, the company's exports have risen some +60% this year, providing some cushion to this drop-off. "This year we will export more than US$ 400 million, which is a great support for Shantui. This year the CIS area is performing well. It is the biggest market for Shantui's exports. Africa, the rest of Asia and South America are very large, but in Europe and North America we have almost nothing due regulations like the Stage IIIB emissions laws," said Mr Li.
Shantui is the clear market leader in the Chinese dozer market, and originally this was the only type of machine it built. However, the last 10 years has seen it branch out into other earthmoving equipment, concreting machines, crawler cranes and forklifts among others.
But it is still dozers that the company is best known for, and these products remain key for Shantui both at home and abroad. "The dozer is a strong product for Shantui, and we always export these first. We have a plan to follow that with other products like forklifts, concrete equipment and drill rigs.
"Our strategy for exports is to focus on developing countries. We want to be the market leader for dozers in these markets. We are preparing to enter the North American and European markets. We are considering building a factory in Poland to assemble dozers that will meet European requirements," said Mr Li.
