There are a number of suppliers in Australia of construction equipment imported from China. They offer hydraulic crawler cranes, multi-tyred rollers, self propelled vibrating rollers, motor graders and excavators. "Chinese construction equipment has only been available in Australia for a relatively short time, but there is an evident increase in market acceptance as product quality improves. There will be an increased demand for equipment such as truck and trailer-mounted concrete pumps, rollers, motor graders, hydraulic crawler cranes and excavators," says Samuel Chung, Sany Australia's managing director. "The price of our company's equipment is at the middle level, and most of the machine components are made in the US, Japan or Germany."

 

Sino Heavy Equipment markets construction equipment including Sany graders, HX dozers and new Sino wheel loaders. After field testing products from China in Australian conditions, the company makes changes where necessary. According to the company's Michael Timmis, changes made to the Sany grader include the ripper, wheels and tyres, cooling system, operator controls and differential lock circuitry. "Many of these modifications are made in-house or by local contractors. We believe that this grader is an excellent machine with top of the line components including from Cummins, Rexroth, Danfoss and Siemens," Timmins told Construction Contractor.

"The cost of our equipment is 40 to 60 per cent less than the recommended retail price of European, Japan and US brands, depending on the model," says Timmis. The quality gap is closing fast, which is evident in the new models and component list.

 

"Service and parts are available through our dealer network and, in the case of Sany, parts are also available from its warehouse in Sydney. Service backup in the past may have been an issue for some people. Typically, in the past you would need to have been more technically capable to buy a machine manufactured in China. Now, our dealer network is the first point of call for back-up, and models that we provide utilise a range of international components. Also, model-specific parts that are not commonly available are warehoused by us in enough volume to meet all warranty requirements and future sales," explains Timmis.

 

"Just as the quality of the machines is improving, so is the market growing. China is the lowest common denominator in relation to production costs. Machines built in China to western specifications are now close to the quality of those from Europe, Japan and the US, and in fact many of those foreign companies own Chinese manufacturers, with Chinese factories producing whole goods and parts for their machines. A current factor having a marked effect on new orders in Australia is the exchange rate. The falling Australian dollar, together with a hike in suppliers pricing of some 10 per cent in 2008, means that we have been hit with cost increases of around 30 per cent. The falling dollar is one matter, but an additional element which has to be factored in is an unstable dollar, necessitating 'floating' pricing," concludes Timmis. - By Hartley Henderson