The persistently popular Chinese excavator market may usher in a cold water.

Unlike previous "man-made disasters," this encounter was a natural disaster. The excavator industry in China has tightened its nerves since the rare earthquake that hit Japan in the vicinity of last month.

Fortunately, the major Japanese companies that provided matching parts for Chinese excavator manufacturers have not been hit hard, but for the Chinese excavator industry, where hydraulic components and engines are completely dependent on imports, this is definitely not a false alarm.

Intensive supply At present, China's production of large and medium-sized excavator hydraulic components and engines rely entirely on imports, and most of them are Japanese products. Orders for hydraulic parts are mainly in the hands of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, KYB, and Nabtesco. The suppliers of engines are mainly Yanmar and Isuzu. Although some domestic companies have selected hydraulic components of the Korean system, the quantity is minimal.

Prior to the earthquake, the supply of hydraulic equipment from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, KYB, and Nabtesco was already tight because of the continuing buzz in China's construction machinery market. Although the three companies plan to increase their Chinese production capacity by 20% in fiscal 2011, the industry’s optimistic estimates The new capacity of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and KYB may not be fully operational until mid-2011.

Although the direct impact on the production of hydraulic components in Japan is relatively small, the problems of power cuts, component shortages, and logistics are bound to bring about a certain degree of indirect impact. KYB said it is currently facing a shortage of original oil seals. In addition, insiders told the reporter that the current purchase of engines from Isuzu has become tense.

At the same time, Japan's post-disaster reconstruction is about to begin in full swing, and the demand for various construction equipment will have a few blowouts in recent years, and its domestic construction machinery production capacity will surely be released as a result, and Japanese accessory companies will be given priority to local manufacturing. It is self-evident that the business will compress the external supply.

The reporter learned from the latest domestic excavator production companies that at present, the supply of Japanese accessories in April is basically maintained under the coordination of manufacturers, but whether the availability of suppliers from May to July can be guaranteed, nobody can tell at the moment. The domestic excavator company bosses are rushing around and it is urgent to seek alternative parts replacement.

Exacerbating bottlenecks Although the Japanese supply chain has shown signs of recovery, almost all construction machinery manufacturers are affected to some extent.

The international giant Caterpillar has performed very well in the Japanese market for many years and has achieved full localization. Even its global R&D center is located in Japan. However, the company said a few days ago, “The supply of spare parts caused by this earthquake will inevitably affect Caterpillar's manufacturing chain, but it is hard to say how big the impact is.”