Doosan loses market share in China

HONG KONG - Doosan Infracore, Korea’s leading construction equipment maker, is expected to continue to see its market share decline in China’s excavator market on increased competition, a report showed yesterday.

Doosan Infracore is likely to hold an 8.3 percent market share this year, down from 9.6 percent in 2011, Daeshin Securities said in a report. The Korean maker has been steadily shedding its market share in China since 2006, when it was the market leader with 18.9 percent.

China’s own Sany Heavy Machinery is expected to become the market leader in 2012, with about 12.5 percent.

The affiliate of Chinese heavy manufacturing company Sany Group held only a 2 percent market share in 2006, then lagging far behind other global players - Doosan Infracore, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Komatsu, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Caterpillar.

While Caterpillar’s market share in China stayed stable in the 8 to 9 percent range in the 2006-2011 period, most makers have seen their market share gradually shrink in China.
In September this year, Doosan Infracore sold 389 units of excavators, accounting for 7.7 percent of the total 5,030 units sold in China in the same month.

It was comparable to 383 units in August, which made up 7.8 percent of the total 4,915 units sold in China.
The Korean construction equipment maker’s weaker performance in China was also attributed to slowing growth in the world’s No. 2 economy.

Yonhap