Construction equipment industry faces downturn

China's construction equipment manufacturing industry will continue to see declining sales in the third quarter, and its performance next year is expected to be lackluster as well, industry insiders said on Tuesday.

Domestic sales of excavators, one of the industry's main products, saw a year-on-year decline of 36.2 percent in the first eight months of the year, according to data from the China Construction Machinery Association.

Both domestic and foreign construction equipment makers are facing a sales decrease in the third quarter as the country's economic slowdown leads to fewer infrastructure construction projects.

Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd and Xugong Group Construction Machinery Co Ltd - two big players in the construction equipment manufacturing industry in China - reported their third-quarter results on Tuesday. The earnings showed a dramatic profit decline due to the gloomy economy.

Sany, China's biggest maker of excavators and construction equipment, posted a net profit of 714 million yuan ($113 million) in the third quarter, down 58.76 percent compared with the same period last year. Its net profit in the first nine months fell to 5.87 billion yuan, down 23.43 percent year-on-year.

The company's year-on-year profit decline in the first half was 13.12 percent.

XCMC's net profit for the first nine months dropped to 1.97 billion yuan, a decline of 30.51 percent year-on-year. In the third quarter, it registered a net profit of 378 million yuan, down 37 percent year-on-year.

According to industry data, that was the company's lowest net profit figure in three years.

XCMC's nine investment projects this year had a total value of more than 2 billion yuan, which surpassed its overall net profit in the first three quarters.

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