China's machine tool import and export unit price varies greatly

The scale of investment in fixed assets of the Chinese equipment industry is continuously expanding, and the demand for machine tools is increasing. This year, the import price of China's machine tools has increased. The export price of China's machine tools is quite different from the import price, which is obviously reflected in the CNC machine tools and combined machine tools. It shows that the domestic technology content and export competitiveness of high-tech products are far from those of foreign products.

The report “Promoting Independent Innovation, Transformation and Upgrading of China's Mechanical and Electrical Industry” issued by the 11th China International Electromechanical Products Expo in Wuhan stated that as the scale of investment in fixed assets of the Chinese equipment industry continues to expand, the demand for machine tools is increasing. This year, China's machine tool import prices have increased, and imports have reached a monthly high since 2008.

The report jointly issued by the China Machinery & Electrical Products Import & Export Chamber of Commerce and the Organizing Committee of the China National Machine Expo revealed that the Chinese machine tool import volume has been growing for the third consecutive month since February 2010, with 11,000 units imported in April, up from the same period of last year. It increased by 1.5 times and increased by 3.9% from the previous month. It had imported more than 10,000 units in two consecutive months, and hit a new monthly high since 2008.

It is worth noting that the average unit price of imports and exports of CNC machine tools (including machining centers) has undergone major changes: In 2009 and 2008, the unit price of imports rose, the unit price of exports declined, and the price trade terms deteriorated. In 2008, the average unit price for imports was 160,700 US dollars, and the average unit price for exports was 34,500 US dollars; in 2009, imports were 221,700 U.S. dollars and exports were 31,400 U.S. dollars.

According to the report, the difference between the export price of Chinese machine tools and the import price is relatively large, and it is obviously reflected in CNC machine tools and combination machine tools. The ratio of the export price to the import price of these two kinds of machine tools is 0.11 and 0.01 respectively, indicating that the domestic technology content and export competitiveness of these two high-tech products are far from the foreign product gap. At present, there are few manufacturers in China with sophisticated technologies. The high-end CNC machine tools required for economic development still rely mainly on imports. The CNC systems and functional components required for medium-to-high-end CNC machine tools also mainly come from abroad.