Policy Escort Builds Foundation, Domestic Leaders Embark on New Journey - Overview of the Current Situation of the Rotary Drilling Machine Industry

    Under the dual drive of increased national infrastructure investment and green transformation policies, the Chinese rotary drilling rig industry has formed a development pattern of "policy support and domestic dominance". Domestic equipment leads the market comprehensively with technological iteration and cost-effectiveness advantages, and the industry as a whole is moving towards a new stage of high-quality development. Nowadays, the domestic rotary drilling rig market has completely reversed its early dependence on imports. Leading enterprises such as Sany Heavy Industry, XCMG Group, and Zoomlion have established a stable leading camp, with the top five companies' market share exceeding 71%. The penetration rate of domestic equipment in the domestic market has approached 90%, and they have surpassed imported brands in high-end fields such as large tonnage and intelligence.

    Policy dividends have become the core support for industry growth, forming a comprehensive escort system from the national level to local implementation. The national "14th Five Year Plan" and "15th Five Year Plan" continue to focus on major infrastructure fields such as transportation, water conservancy, and energy. Projects such as railways, urban rail transit, and underground comprehensive pipe galleries are intensively underway. In 2024, the national infrastructure investment increased by 7.8% year-on-year, directly driving the steady increase in demand for rotary drilling rigs. The annual sales reached 5820 units, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%. At the local level, precise policies are being implemented. Taking Zhengzhou City as an example, the subsidy policy for phasing out and updating new energy for non road mobile machinery at the national level 2 and below is clearly defined, and high emission equipment is prohibited and restricted in designated areas. This provides real financial support for the promotion of pure electric rotary drilling rigs and drives the industry towards green transformation. At the same time, the full implementation of National IV emission standards and the preparation of National V standards will further accelerate the replacement process of low emission and new energy models.

    The leading position of domestic equipment stems from the dual empowerment of technological breakthroughs and product structure upgrades. Top enterprises continue to increase their R&D investment, with R&D expense ratios generally exceeding 5%, far exceeding the industry average. They are gradually overcoming core technological bottlenecks such as high-end hydraulic systems and intelligent control systems, and the process of domestic substitution continues to accelerate. The product side is showing a trend towards intelligence, electrification, and large-scale production. The sales of intelligent models with automatic vertical adjustment, AI drilling parameter optimization, and remote monitoring functions have reached 38.5%. The sales of pure electric and hybrid models will increase by 86.5% year-on-year in 2024, and will be widely applied in green construction demonstration zones such as Xiong'an New Area and Qianhai in Shenzhen. The demand for large tonnage models is particularly strong, with sales of 30-50 ton products accounting for over 58%, and the proportion of ultra large equipment above 60 tons increasing to 13.4%, accurately matching the needs of super engineering projects such as cross sea bridges and deep underground space development.

    While the domestic market is stable, the domestic rotary drilling rig accelerates to expand its global footprint, becoming an important equipment support for the "the Belt and Road" infrastructure cooperation. In 2024, the export volume reached 1050 units, a year-on-year increase of 28.4%. Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa became the core markets, with the top three brands accounting for 76.3% of the total export volume. The export product structure continues to become high-end, with the proportion of large tonnage models above 400kN · m increasing to 34%. The export value of electric rotary drilling rigs has increased by 80% year-on-year. With strong adaptability and high cost-effectiveness, the market share in Southeast Asia has exceeded 25%. Some enterprises have strengthened their competitiveness through overseas localization layout. Zoomlion's India factory has an annual production capacity of over 800 units, and Sany Group's intelligent control system technology solution has been included in India's local construction machinery standards, achieving an upgrade from product output to technical standard output.

The development of the industry still faces multiple challenges, such as fluctuations in raw material prices (steel costs account for about 35% of the total machine cost), dependence on imported high-end chips, and other issues that still constrain profit margins and the process of self-reliance. Homogenized competition in the mid to low end market and overseas technological barriers also need to be continuously broken through. In the future, under the continuous protection of policies, domestic equipment will further focus on core technology breakthroughs and the construction of a global service system, consolidate its leading advantages through intelligent and green transformation, and achieve higher quality growth in the domestic and international dual circulation pattern.