Terex considers manufacturing in China
06 May 2008
Ron DeFeo, Terex chairman and CEO, has hinted that the company might begin manufacturing cranes in China. Terex already manufactures excavators and off-road trucks in a joint venture company, North Hauler Ltd, in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, and is targeting China as a market with huge growth potential. It is considering a range of possibilities and is targeting revenues of US$ 1 billion from China by 2006.
Speaking about the possibility of manufacturing cranes in China, Terex chairman and CEO Ron DeFeo told IC, “If you look at Terex and our history, that would be a likely thing for us to do. This is a big crane market.”
More than 10000 mobile cranes were sold in China last year, mainly domestically produced truck cranes, to a maximum lifting capacity of 100 tonnes. The main market for European, Japanese and US manufacturers in China at present is higher capacity mobile and crawler cranes.
In China this year to the end of September Terex said it sold large cranes worth almost $35 million. Terex Cranes president Steve Filipov said the company also signed three or four more orders at the Bauma China exhibition for large cranes that will be used there.
Many of the smaller cranes used in China are owned by rental companies. Asked whether Terex would consider going into the Chinese rental sector, DeFeo said, “Terex has not made a decision to rent cranes in China, but if that's the way business is done we would look to partner with a local company.”
DeFeo expects China to grow in significance for the company over the next few years. He compared its potential with that of Germany, where Terex has annual sales of about $1 billion. By 2006, he said, “Our goal is to double our sales in China every year... We haven't set a target, but the potential is enormous. We should have at least $1 billion of business in China.”
He also said he was in favour of the recent economic control measures, or ‘credit squeeze’ applied to the construction equipment industry by the Chinese government. “I think the macro economic controls are a good thing, because we need stability. Manufacturers can't respond to big swings in demand,” he said.