Ritchie Bros confirms April date for first China auction

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers will hold its first auction in China on 18 April, 2013, at its new auction site near to Beijing.

The announcement follows many years of groundwork by the company to receive regulatory approvals for unreserved auctions in the country. The auction site is on leased land in the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone in Shunyi, Beijing, close to Beijing Capital International Airport.

Equipment already consigned to the auction includes an unused 2010 Kato HD820V hydraulic excavator; a 2009 Caterpillar 320D-E hydraulic excavator; and a 2007 Caterpillar D7G Series II crawler tractor.

One of the first local sellers to provide equipment for the auction is Mr Xie Qianbo, owner of Shanghai Jin Jichang Engineering Machinery Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based heavy equipment dealer.

Mr Xie said; "[Ritchie] have the power to bring legitimate buyers from around the world who need to buy my machines in order to put them to work right away. This is why we are selling our equipment at the first ever Ritchie Bros auction in China"

Chris Edwards, Ritchie Bros. general manager for China, Korea and Mongolia, said; "For many years we have been learning China's market, customer needs and behaviours. It's exciting that we are about to introduce the unreserved auction process in China".