Is the "golden period" of the agricultural machinery industry over?

In 2014, the growth rate of the agricultural machinery industry fell from the "vanguard" position of the machinery industry to below the average, but the industry believes that the weakening data does not mean the end of the "golden period" of development. At present, the main conditions supporting the rapid growth of the industry still exist, and the softening of data is a manifestation of structural adjustment and product consolidation, indicating that the domestic agricultural machinery industry needs to change its growth momentum.

According to the latest information from the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association, the growth rate of the agricultural machinery industry dropped to less than 9 percent in 2014. In the national machinery industry, the agricultural machinery industry has dropped from the vanguard for many years to below the average of the machinery industry. Does the softening of the data mean that the "golden period" for the development of the agricultural machinery industry is over?

Chen Zhi, president of the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association, said in an interview with the Economic Daily that at present, the main conditions supporting the rapid growth of the agricultural machinery industry are still there, and the softening of the main economic data of the agricultural machinery industry is a manifestation of structural adjustment and product consolidation, indicating that the domestic agricultural machinery industry needs to change its growth momentum.

For the agricultural machinery industry, the past 10 years has been a "golden decade" for the development of China's agricultural machinery industry, with a total output value of more than 350 billion yuan. However, in the past, the rapid development of agricultural machinery industry was mainly based on extensive volume growth, including irrational consumption growth brought about by non-market-oriented stimulus.

The realistic problem is that although the product structure of agricultural machinery in China is constantly optimized, the product structure is still unreasonable and the lack of high-end products leads to structural shrinkage in the industry. On the whole, the product structure, variety and supply quantity of agricultural machinery in China can basically meet the needs of most domestic markets, but the homogenization competition is serious. for example, the output value of tractors accounts for about 18% of the agricultural machinery industry, and "agricultural and horticultural machinery", including harvesting machinery, accounts for 31%. These two kinds of products have the largest weight in the agricultural machinery industry. However, tractors with more than 200 horsepower, grain harvesters with feeding capacity of more than 10 kg, cotton pickers, sugarcane harvesters and other products are lack of competitive products, which is a stubborn disease of the agricultural machinery industry.

"with the transfer of rural labor force, the expansion of agricultural scale, the improvement of people's living standards, the development of agricultural machinery service organizations and the strengthening of market competition, the demand for low-end products is weakening. the demand for advanced use, high-tech content and large-scale agricultural machinery will continue to increase, and the excessive pursuit of the number of agricultural machinery in the past will gradually transform to the pursuit of agricultural machinery quality." Chen Zhi said.

Over the years, the state has issued a series of policies to support and promote the development of agricultural mechanization, especially the subsidy policy for the purchase of agricultural machinery, which has promoted the sustained growth of the total amount of agricultural machinery market and the continuous upgrading of industrial structure. it has also created a "golden decade" for the development of agricultural machinery industry. However, as an administrative means to stimulate the development of agricultural machinery industry, agricultural machinery subsidy policy is subject to the non-standard at the operational level, which magnifies the influence of non-market behavior to a certain extent. "it is an inevitable trend for the development of agricultural machinery industry to change from policy-driven to innovation-driven, which plays an important role in promoting the structural adjustment and upgrading of China's agricultural machinery industry, rapidly upgrading the level of industrial technology, and realizing China's agricultural machinery to the world." Wang Jinfu, general manager of Zoomlion, said.

The lack of innovation ability is the weakness of the development of agricultural machinery industry in our country at present. In recent years, although China's agricultural machinery industry has made a great breakthrough in independent innovation, there is still a big gap between China's agricultural machinery industry and foreign agricultural machinery manufacturing industry. For example, large tractors with more than 200 horsepower, large self-propelled grain combine harvester, large combined seeder, remote control unmanned pesticide dispenser, low amount of pesticide spraying, mechanical cotton picking, and sugarcane machinery harvesting are still the key problems to be solved in the future.

Due to the huge gap between domestic and foreign agricultural machinery products, some domestic agricultural machinery manufacturing enterprises with a global vision have turned their attention to Europe and the United States and other countries. China Yituo successfully acquired McCormick, a French tractor manufacturer, in 2011, greatly improving the research and development of power shift tractors. In recent years, Fukuda Leivo heavy Industry has further enhanced its scientific and technological innovation capability by establishing R & D centers in Europe and Japan, focusing on breaking through high-end new technologies and products while promoting product technology upgrading. Domestic agricultural machinery manufacturing enterprises set up R & D centers in Europe and the United States, which is an important path for Chinese agricultural machinery enterprises to build intellectual engines and gradually shift their focus to global R & D. it is also an important strategic direction for Chinese agricultural machinery enterprises to move towards the world in the future.