Changsha Construction Machinery: Global Expansion Blossoms

Three years into Changsha’s pilot program for upgrading foreign trade in construction machinery, overseas markets have become the primary growth engine for the industry.

Global Expansion: A Blossoming Spring

As spring 2026 unfolds, Changsha’s construction machinery sector has reported strong export momentum.

From January to February 2026, Changsha’s construction machinery exports reached 6.04 billion yuan, up 29.5% year-on-year, solidifying overseas markets as the industry’s top growth driver.

Since 2023, when the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance approved Changsha as a demonstration pilot for upgrading foreign trade quality and efficiency in construction machinery, the city has leveraged deep integration of domestic and international market resources. Exports surged from 16.37 billion yuan in late 2022 to 31.76 billion yuan in 2025, representing a cumulative growth of 94.01%. Total overseas revenue of Changsha’s construction machinery enterprises neared 100 billion yuan, with products covering more than 180 countries and regions.

The Changsha construction machinery cluster, once focused primarily on the domestic market, is now integrating into the global industrial chain with unprecedented breadth and depth.

Breaking Barriers: Institutional Innovation Unleashes Potential

“If you don’t go global, you’ll be out of the game. Last year, 60% of our group’s revenue and 95% of our profit came from overseas,” said a pilot enterprise executive.

Going global is no easy feat. Construction machinery often weighs dozens of tons, involving complex processes—customs clearance, logistics, international certification, after-sales service, and compliance risks—each a potential bottleneck.

Changsha’s solution: use the national foreign trade upgrading pilot as a catalyst and drive institutional innovation to pave the way for enterprises.

“We adhere to the principle of provincial coordination, municipal implementation, and carrier collaboration. We established a pilot task force, with dedicated teams in three key zones: Hunan Xiangjiang New Area, Changsha Economic Development Zone, and Ningxiang Economic Development Zone. All 12 project entities appointed foreign trade project specialists, forming a three-tiered professional communication framework,” explained an official from Changsha Municipal Bureau of Commerce.

Institutional innovation delivered tangible results in customs clearance. The Changsha Pilot Free Trade Zone Airport Area, in partnership with Changsha Huanghua Airport Customs, rolled out combined supervision innovations for high-certification enterprises, leveraging the comprehensive bonded zone’s “inside China, outside customs” status:

• Introduced special customs clearance license plate recognition, allowing truck cranes to exit directly without trailer transport
• Piloted one declaration for multiple vehicles, facilitating decentralized export of large machinery
• Established a post-departure error correction mechanism, avoiding repeated declarations due to schedule changes

Since implementation, overall customs clearance time for road construction machinery has been cut by 50%, with logistics costs reduced by 300–500 yuan per unit. Combined with the “tax refund upon entry” policy, over 600 million yuan in export tax refunds have been processed, with payment cycles shortened by 7–15 days.

These policy “combination punches” removed bottlenecks and unlocked dormant production capacity. Since 2023, Zoomlion and Sunward Intelligent—two Global Top 50 construction machinery firms—have exported over 4,200 units of truck cranes, excavators, and other equipment via Huanghua Comprehensive Bonded Zone, with a total value exceeding 5 billion yuan. From January to August 2025 alone, exports rose 157.21% year-on-year.

“For core needs like overseas factory construction, cross-border M&A, and localized operations, the pilot provides green approval channels and outbound investment support, significantly lowering the barriers and costs of global expansion,” said Ning Xing, Director of Public Affairs at Hunan Sinoboom Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. The company’s export declaration value reached about 1.7 billion yuan in 2025.

Changsha’s construction machinery “Hunan Army” has broken new ground amid industry headwinds.

Qualitative Leap: From Product Exports to Industrial Globalization

Institutional dividends have translated into robust momentum for international expansion. Changsha’s construction machinery sector is transitioning from product exports to industrial globalization.

Sany Heavy Truck exemplifies this shift. Earlier this year, Sany and five other Chinese electric truck brands announced a full-scale entry into the European market in 2026, establishing R&D centers and production bases to compete in high-end global markets with cost-effective, innovative technology.

In Indonesia, Zoomlion is accelerating localization.

In December 2025, Zoomlion opened its 36th service outlet in Jambi City, Jambi Province, Indonesia. Hundreds of units of orders across product lines were signed on-site, totaling over 200 million yuan.

Li Xin, Deputy General Manager of Zoomlion Indonesia, noted that Zoomlion’s mobile cranes, concrete machinery, aerial work platforms, and tower cranes hold the No. 1 market share in Indonesia.

In North America, Sinoboom is advancing at “China Speed” to capture market share.