Chinese EV Trucks Will Build the Cities of the Future

China's construction industry may be struggling, but the nation's heavy machinery giants are in global expansion mode.

- David Fickling

If you think the world is starting to get used to surging sales of Chinese-made electric cars, the next wave of exports is going to be bigger, and more powerful.

That's because the construction machinery giants that grew fat off the country's property bubble are looking for new markets to offset the downturn at home. Combined with looming electrification, the effects could be quite as dramatic as the other Made-in-China export booms which have so troubled trading partners.

Consider Sany Heavy Industry Co. In 2020, 83 per cent of its business was selling excavators, cranes, concrete mixers and the like to domestic developers. In the space of just four years, China's property crash has caused its turnover in that market to shrink by two-thirds.

Overseas markets now account for more than 60 per cent of revenue. It's hoping to raise US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) via a Hong Kong initial public offering to help it double international sales to 100 billion yuan (S$18 billion), the South China Morning Post reported earlier in May.