Kobelco Cranes has formed a joint venture with Chinese partner Sichuan Chengdu Chenggong Construction Machinery (CG) that will move crawler crane production onto mainland China.
The construction equipment maker used to manufacture exclusively in Japan but recently opened a plant in India. The JV with CG means it is now the world’s first company to manufacture both hydraulic excavators and crawler cranes in China and India.
The Chinese market comprises 700 units of the world’s total demand of 2,500 crawler cranes. Kobelco’s move means it can keep investment costs down, gain fast entry to the market and keep pace with its Chinese construction equipment competition.
Kobelco Cranes has a 50% share of the Japanese market for crawler cranes, its main product. Kobelco estimates that it has a 17% market share of the global market. The plant in China will be its second overseas manufacturing location after India. The China plant will be the first facility of a Japanese manufacturer to make crawler cranes.
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