Preparations are progressing at full speed for bauma CHINA 2020

Preparations for bauma CHINA are progressing at full speed. The 10th international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles will be held from November 24 to 27, 2020 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC).

Since it was launched back in 2002, bauma CHINA has developed into the largest and most important industry event in the whole of Asia. 3,350 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions showcased their companies and products to over 212,000 visitors from Asia and all over the world at the previous event in November 2018. It already looks like bauma CHINA 2020 will also occupy the entire exhibition space available, a total of around 330,000 square meter. “The current registration figures are significantly higher than they were at this point in time for the previous event in terms of the number of exhibitors and the amount of exhibition space that has been reserved,” says Exhibition Director Maritta Lepp.

Topics and developments

bauma CHINA will continue along the path already laid down by bauma in Munich in terms of current topics and innovative developments: Digitalization and automation are the main drivers of development in the construction machinery industry. As such, smart and low-emission machines and vehicles with integrated digital solutions will feature heavily at bauma CHINA. A leap in terms of technological development is also expected as a result of the further tightening of emission standards for unroadworthy diesel vehicles, which China has announced will be introduced at the end of 2020. Construction machinery which meets the new standards will be showcased at bauma CHINA and corresponding updates will be provided for older machinery.

State and development of the market

The construction industry continues to be one of the main pillars of growth in China, registering an increase in production value in the first half of 2019 of 7.2 percent compared to the same period the year before (entire year of 2018: +9.9 percent). As part of this, the government is continuing to implement infrastructure measures. UBS predicts that, in the end, state infrastructure investment will have risen by more than 10 percent for 2019. Swifter approval of projects and the increased use of public-private partnership (PPP) models should further energize infrastructure development.

Some of the main focus areas of the infrastructure measures include the expansion of inner-city transport systems, urban utilities, power transmission, environmental projects, logistics, 5G and rural infrastructure projects. Furthermore, reports suggest that investments in artificial intelligence and in the Internet of Things will be promoted as “new” infrastructure endeavors. The classic expansion and upgrading of roads, railways and air travel is continuing regardless.

As such, the construction machinery industry registered very impressive sales figures once again in 2018. Growing demand is also benefiting international construction machinery manufacturers. Imports of construction machinery rose overall in 2018 by 13.9 percent compared to the previous year to US$ 5.5 billion. According to Chinese customs statistics, deliveries from Germany accounted for imports with a total value of US$ 0.9 billion, a 12.1 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The Chinese industry association predicts that, in the end, 2019 will be characterized by stable growth, albeit not as high as in the past. There is apparently a clear trend for replacement investments and demand is gravitating towards high-quality models.