In February 2026, the construction machinery industry delivered a starkly contrasting performance. According to data from the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, excavator sales in February totaled 17,226 units, down 10.6% year on year. Of these, domestic sales plunged by 42% to just 6,755 units, while export sales surged by 37.2% to 10,471 units. Cumulatively for January–February, excavator exports jumped 38.8% year on year. A similar pattern emerged in the loader segment: total sales in February reached 9,540 units, up 9.28% year on year, but domestic sales fell by 14.3% while exports soared by 34.4%; moreover, loader exports for January–February posted a year-on-year growth rate of 43.9%. On one hand, domestic sales are at a freezing low; on the other, exports are booming. Amid this dramatic divergence, who truly emerges as the winner? I. The First-Layer Winners: Leading Full-System Manufacturers That Rely on the Global Construction Market The most obvious category of winners comprises China’s leading OEMs that have already expanded their operations worldwide. For example, Zoomlion kicked off 2026 with a strong start, shipping more than 15,000 pieces of equipment—valued at roughly RMB 8.5 billion—to over 40 countries and regions, including Germany, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates, thereby significantly increasing the share of overseas business. XCMG, meanwhile, dispatched large batches of complete concrete-machinery fleets to premium markets in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East, proactively shifting its focus from selling individual machines to offering comprehensive turnkey solutions.

From a broader perspective, in 2025 China’s exports of construction machinery and parts totaled US$60.23 billion, up 13.9% year on year, with all major product categories—such as cranes, concrete machinery, industrial vehicles, and components—posting growth across the board. Entering 2026, excavator exports accounted for more than 60% of total sales in January and February alone.

All of this underscores a key point: the higher a company’s share of overseas revenue, the better it can offset declines in domestic demand; and the more comprehensively it can offer integrated solutions spanning excavators, cranes, concrete equipment, aerial work platforms, and mining systems, the more qualified it is to secure major global projects.
Within the structural dynamic of “a sharp plunge in domestic sales and a meteoric surge in exports,” the leading full-system manufacturers that have truly made their livelihood from global engineering projects are undoubtedly the primary winners. Second, the secondary winners: the new-energy players who profit from “energy-consumption accounting plus carbon accounting.” If one focuses solely on sales volumes, it is easy to overlook an important shift: the penetration of new-energy equipment is quietly accelerating.

In the excavator segment, electric excavators remain relatively small in scale: only 19 units were sold domestically in February, with cumulative sales of 43 units for January–February. However, their growth rate has significantly outpaced overall domestic sales, positioning them as promising “front-runners” for the future. Even more indicative is the loader market: in February, among 3,863 loaders sold domestically, 2,016 were electric, accounting for over half; and in January–February, out of 9,156 loaders sold domestically, 4,717 were electric, again exceeding 50%. On the export front, China’s industrial-vehicle exports reached US$8.89 billion in 2025, with electric industrial vehicles accounting for 50.8% of that total, making electric forklifts and electric tractors the main drivers of export growth. At the corporate level, Zoomlion has launched the ZTE240HEV, a 136-ton hybrid electric-drive dump truck that delivers approximately 15% better power performance, 10% higher transport efficiency, and 12% lower overall energy consumption. The company also bundles this vehicle with autonomous mining trucks and smart-mine platforms to form a “green-mine solution,” which has already been deployed in overseas projects. In short, the second-tier winners are those new-energy players who can help customers clearly quantify their “fuel-cost and carbon-footprint accounts”: they enjoy higher gross margins per unit and can further generate revenue through services such as battery operation and maintenance and energy-management solutions. Moreover, on construction sites in Europe and North America with stringent emission standards, new-energy equipment itself serves as an essential “entry ticket.” On the supply-chain front, China’s strengths in batteries and integrated electric-drive systems give it a first-mover advantage in the global race for new-energy construction machinery.

III. The Third-Layer Winners: Intelligent Enterprises That Have Shifted from Selling Iron to Selling Computing Power—While exports and new energy are reshaping “where the money comes from,” intelligence is transforming “how the money is made.”
Xinhua News Agency reported at this year’s North American trade show that Zoomlion’s 5G tower-crane remote intelligent-control system, Sany’s smart excavator-robot system, and XCMG’s autonomous mining-truck platooning are transforming tower cranes, excavators, and mining trucks from “steel machines” into “algorithm-driven systems.”
These players are no longer selling just a piece of equipment; they are offering a comprehensive, unmanned, automated solution that encompasses “extraction—assembly—transportation—deployment.” Their revenue model is gradually shifting from a one-time profit on equipment sales to a mix of system integration fees, software subscriptions, and operations-and-maintenance services. As a result, customer switching costs have risen sharply, customer stickiness has strengthened, and valuations no longer follow the traditional cyclical stock playbook. At a time when domestic excavator sales are plummeting, the equipment that can be remotely operated, autonomously driven, and supported by data-driven O&M is increasingly emblematic of the industry’s long-term trajectory. Fourth, the answer: the winners lie in that 38.8% growth rate. If you connect the dots, you’ll see that the real winners aren’t on the curve showing a 42% decline in domestic sales; they’re on the curve showing a 38.8% increase in exports. These companies share three key characteristics: in terms of revenue, they rely on global projects; in terms of products, they capture premium pricing through new energy and intelligent technologies; and in terms of capabilities, they have evolved from selling standalone machines to selling systems and services. Therefore, if 2026 marks a watershed moment for the construction-equipment industry, then looking ahead from this inflection point, the era of relying solely on domestic excavator sales is fading, while the era defined by export capability, new-energy penetration, and advanced levels of intelligence has arrived.