May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Global sales of excavators may rise 25 percent because of demand from China, Kayaba Industries Co. said, twice as much as the Japanese company’s forecast.
Industry demand may rise to about 200,000 units in the year started April 1, Makoto Kimura, director in charge of marketing for hydraulic components at the Tokyo-based parts maker, said in an interview yesterday.
Demand for the digging machinery in China is being driven by an expansion in mining projects to fuel the world’s fastest growing economy as well as spending on rural infrastructure. China, the world’s largest market for construction equipment market, may account for 60 percent of excavators sold globally, according to Kayaba.
“Excavator sales have reached unprecedented levels,” Kimura said in the interview. “Customer needs for the machines are exceeding what we have budgeted.”
Kayaba, which holds a 40 percent of the world’s market for excavator cylinders, estimated growth of about 13 percent in the market in February.
The shares of Kayaba, which is also known as KYB, were unchanged at 350 yen at 1:06 p.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The company supplies parts to Tokyo-based Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest construction machinery maker, and China’s Sany Heavy Industries Co.
The number of excavators sold in China doubled to about 64,000 units in the first four months of 2010 from a year earlier, according to Kayaba estimates.
Kayaba’s Chinese unit will install additional lines to expand production capacity of cylinders by 50 percent to meet demand, Kimura said.
Komatsu Ltd., the second-biggest construction machinery manufacturer, expects sales of large dump trucks and excavators used in mining will rise by half because of demand from China, Kazuhiko Iwata, the president of the company’s mining division, said on March 12.
--Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Indranil Ghosh
To contact the reporters on this story: Masumi Suga in Tokyo at msuga@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Hobbs in Sydney at ahobbs4@bloomberg.net.
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