Entering early 2026, China's foreign trade in industrial machinery and machine tools has sustained the sound development momentum of 2025, with steady expansion in import and export scale and continuous optimization of market structure. Many relevant enterprises have achieved remarkable results in overseas markets through product upgrading, improved services and diversified layouts, realizing mutual empowerment of the industry and enterprises and ushering in a prosperous start for the Spring Festival.
According to a report by China Industry News on February 6, the total import and export volume of China’s machinery industry reached 1.27 trillion US dollars in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, of which the export volume stood at 986.82 billion US dollars, a year-on-year surge of 13.5%, hitting a record high. In terms of market layout, the industry's exports are characterized by “emerging markets leading the way and continuous structural optimization”. Exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” rose by 24.7% year-on-year, with emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East and Africa achieving particularly striking growth rates. ASEAN has become China’s largest export market for electromechanical products, accounting for 16.8%, while export growth rates to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia reached 38.4%, 35.9% and 15.3% respectively. Exports to Africa and the Middle East increased by 35.8% and 16.1% year-on-year, becoming the core driving force for the growth of machinery foreign trade. Meanwhile, despite fluctuations in traditional markets, the industry has achieved high-quality overseas development through product upgrading, effectively mitigating market risks.
In terms of core product categories, China’s exports of industrial machinery and machine tools have made breakthroughs in multiple aspects, demonstrating strong industrial competitiveness. In 2025, the export volume of China's machine tools increased by 28.6% year-on-year, among which the export of high-end CNC machine tools rose by 42.3%. Core products such as CNC lathes and machining centers have broken overseas technological monopolies by virtue of their high precision and stability. In the field of industrial machinery, exports of heavy machine tools, precision grinders and automated processing equipment performed outstandingly, with the export volume increasing 4.8 times over five years, demonstrating the excellent strength of China's industrial machinery and machine tools. Additionally, intelligent machine tools, green and energy-saving industrial machinery, and customized processing equipment have gradually become the mainstream of overseas exports, winning wide recognition in overseas markets due to their advantages of high efficiency, energy conservation and strong adaptability.
The vigorous development of the industry is inseparable from the active efforts of various industrial machinery and machine tool enterprises. In early 2026, orders for relevant enterprises in many regions have been scheduled until the second quarter. Products such as CNC processing machines, automated assembly line processing equipment and precision grinders are in high demand in Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets. The in-depth integration of cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses has also become an important support for enterprises to expand markets, reduce costs and improve efficiency, forming a pattern where the government and enterprises work together to promote the high-quality development of foreign trade in industrial machinery and machine tools.
The overseas practices of leading enterprises have provided valuable experience for the development of the industrial machinery and machine tool industry. Data from Alibaba International Station shows that leading domestic foreign trade merchants in industrial machinery and machine tools have increased the localization rate of core components to 92%, shortening the delivery cycle of machine tools and industrial machinery from 3 months to 15-20 days and greatly enhancing market competitiveness. At the same time, enterprises are accelerating the improvement of overseas service layouts, adding 20 agents and 10 spare parts warehouses along the “Belt and Road” to achieve 24-hour fault repair for machine tools and industrial machinery. They have transformed from “selling equipment” to “defining standards and providing services”, and have entered high-end European and American markets through international precision certification and energy efficiency certification, with orders surging by 105% year-on-year.
State-owned and private industrial machinery and machine tool enterprises are advancing side by side, achieving breakthroughs in multiple overseas markets. As a key state-owned enterprise, Northern International Group has recently achieved fruitful results, focusing on the field of machine tools and industrial machinery. It has not only successfully delivered 6 large-scale precision machine tool supporting cranes, but also completed the shipment of products worth 6 million US dollars, including Indonesian machine tool processing production lines and Japanese industrial furnace shell supporting equipment. In the field of industrial machinery supporting, its Zambian industrial project has shipped a total of 12.1 million US dollars worth of machine tools and supporting products, and will ship another 3 million US dollars worth of goods in early 2026. Meanwhile, it has made new breakthroughs in the South Asian market, winning an order of nearly 2 million US dollars for Indian annealing furnace supporting machine tools. Private machinery enterprises have also performed brilliantly: Shandong Haiyu Heavy Industry focuses on emerging markets such as Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and deeply cultivates the fields of precision machine tools and small-scale industrial processing machinery. With the differentiated advantages of customized design, high-precision equipment and lean production, its orders have increased by 30% year-on-year, and current orders have been scheduled until the end of February, continuing to lead the overseas track in the segmented field.
Currently, China's foreign trade in industrial machinery and machine tools is in a critical period of structural optimization and kinetic energy conversion. The sustained growth of emerging markets, continuous upgrading of product structures and improvement of enterprise service capabilities have injected lasting momentum into the industry's development. Looking ahead to 2026, as more industrial machinery and machine tool enterprises increase R&D investment and expand overseas layouts, China's foreign trade in related categories is expected to maintain a steady growth trend and occupy a more important position in the global industrial machinery and machine tool industry pattern.
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