Differences in domestic machining centers

The import of processing centers in my country has increased sharply in recent years, from 2,144 units imported in 2000 to 8,095 units in 2004, and imports in 2005 are expected to reach 10,000 units. In the first half of 2005, my country imported 4,579 various processing centers with a value of 620 million U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 26.4% and 56.3% respectively. Among them, 3443 vertical machining centers were imported, accounting for 75.2% of the total, with a value of 277 million US dollars, accounting for 44.7% of the total value, an increase of 26.1% and 45.3% respectively year-on-year. 703 horizontal machining centers were imported, accounting for 15.4% of the total, with a value of 239 million US dollars, accounting for 38.6% of the total, an increase of 47.7% and 72.1% respectively year-on-year. The Longmen Machining Center imported 138 units, accounting for 3% of the total, with an amount of US$64 million, accounting for 10.4% of the total amount, an increase of 81.6% and 111% respectively year-on-year. Among the major categories of CNC metal cutting machine tools imported by our country, machining centers have become the most important imported products, and their quantity and value account for nearly one-third of the imported CNC metal cutting machine tools.

The rapid increase in imports of processing centers reflects the great demand for processing centers in my country, which was about 11,000 units in 2004 and is expected to reach 13,500 units in 2005. The situation that most of the processing centers for domestic demand rely on foreign imports has not fundamentally changed, and the market share of domestic processing centers is still relatively low, about 27%. The main reason for the low market share of domestic processing centers is that there are many gaps in product level, delivery time, quality and reliability compared with similar foreign products.

Where do the imported processing centers come from?

In the first half of 2005, my country's vertical machining center imports were mainly from Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and South Korea, which together accounted for 95% of the total number of imported vertical machining centers. The average unit prices of imports from the United States and Taiwan are around US$55,000 and US$60,000 respectively. Most of them are popular vertical machining centers, accounting for 55.2% of the total vertical machining center imports. Imported from Japan and South Korea, the average unit price is more than 90,000 US dollars, most of which are also popular vertical machining centers.

The main importing countries of horizontal machining centers are Japan, South Korea and Germany. The three countries together accounted for 83.7% of the total horizontal machining center imports, of which Japan accounted for 62%.

The imports of gantry machining centers are mainly from Taiwan and Japan, which account for 54.3% and 31.9% of the total imports of gantry machining centers, respectively. The main imports from Taiwan are small and medium-sized fixed beam gantry machining centers.

The rapid increase in imports of machining centers reflects on the one hand the strong demand for such CNC machine tools in my country's manufacturing industry, and on the other hand, it also reflects the gap between the production capacity of my country's machining centers and the competitiveness of domestic machining centers.