177
InformationMay 2009
Chinese casting production increased to 31,270,000 tons in
2007, with an increase of 11.3% compared to 28,090,000
tons in 2006. Since 2000, China has been the top producer
of castings for eight consecutive years. In 2007, the total
casting production in China accounted for over a third of
the global total production and was more than the total
production of USA, Japan, Germany and South Korea.
China is the large country in producing and exporting
castings. In 2007, the export volume of various castings
from China was 2,774,000 tons, taking up 8.9% of the total
casting production in this year, growing by 6.5%, compared
to the export volume of 2,604,000 tons in 2006. The total
export value of castings in 2007 was US$ 2,464 million, an
increase of 13.1% compared to the total export value of US$
2,179 million in 2006. In 2007, the equipment manufacturing
industry grew rapidly in China. Foundry industry as the
basis of the equipment manufacturing industry has also
made a great progress in investment of technological funds,
self-innovation of products and scientific management.
Overview of Chinese Casting and Foundry Equipment Import and Export in 2007
China Foundry Association
In addition, the quality of castings has shown a significant
improvement. Overseas enterprises purchased more high
quality and safety critical castings, such as castings for
wind turbine, electrical generator and motor, which have
gained high recognition. In 2007, the total volume of import
castings was 30,400 tons, only 0.1% of the total casting
production in China. However, a majority of those castings
was either sophisticated, high quality and safety critical
castings, or castings in short supply. The manufacturing
industry of foundry equipment in China grew fast in 2007.
Domestic enterprises continuously improve themselves by
introducing, digesting and absorbing advanced technologies.
At the same time, by means of self-innovation, the
technologies of equipment manufacturing have been
updated to a high level. These enterprises provide domestic
customers with lots of foundry machinery and mechanical
equipment. On the other hand, they are helpful in exporting
complete sets of machinery and equipment.
1. Volume and value of castings import and export in China in 2007
The Table 1 lists the volume and value of castings import
and export of China in 2007 that comes from China customs
statistics. But, some cast products included in some import
and export products, for example the cast products in some
components and assemblies are not listed in this table.
Many of these components are machined cast parts, such
as steel frogs, some copper products processed by casting,
stamping, die forging or open forging; wheels, brakes and
components for railway, locomotive and electrical vehicles;
brakes and components for towing vehicles, tractors and
mechanical vehicles; parts for various types of compressors;
automobile parts; valves (pressure relief valves, oil and air
pressure transmission valves, check valves, safety valves
and other types valves), taps, faucets and other similar
products; industrial aluminum, copper, zinc, magnesium
castings and so on. Therefore, in addition to the products
described in Table 1 and the above-mentioned parts, there
is quite amount of castings imported and exported with
the assemblies, machinery and equipment. Especially, the
non-ferrous castings imported and exported with the above
products, are not listed in customs statistics.
According to the customs data of casting import and
export, the total volume of export castings in 2007 was
2,774,000 tons, among which industrial and non-industrial
grey iron castings had most shares, accounting for 26.7%
of the total export castings, followed by pipes and hollow
profi le products, taking up 21.7% of the total export
castings. The average export price was US$ 888.2/ton in
2007, growing by 6.1% compared to US$ 836.8/ton in 2006.
The import castings in 2007 were only 30,400 tons in China.
The average import price was US$ 3,182.1/ton, which fell
slightly compared to US$ 3,260/ton in 2006.
2. Countries and regions for Chinese castings export and import in 2007According to the customs statistics data, China exported
castings to 193 countries and regions and imported castings
mainly from South Korea, Germany and Taiwan of China in
2007. Main countries and regions for Chinese casting export
and import in 2007 are listed in Table 2. The major countries
and regions that Chinese castings exported to are USA,
South Korea, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, Canada, England,
Hong Kong and Taiwan of China and so on. Asia, North
America and Europe accounted for over 90% of total export
castings.
178
CHINA FOUNDRY Vol.6 No.2
Table 1: Volume and value of castings import and export in China in 2007
No. Products
Export Import
Quantity ton
Sum US$
Average price
US$/ton
Quantity ton
Sum US$
Average price
US$/ton
1 Ductile iron pipes with internal diameter≥500 mm 154,104.0 84,807,704 550.3 16.2 29,436 1,813.9
2 Other cast iron tubes, pipes & hollow profile products 600,865.7 338,525,306 563.4 4,377.1 4,093,178 935.1
3 Gray iron 222,480.0 249,370,810 1,120.9 662.3 5,420,759 8,185.3
4 Malleable iron & steel pipe fittings 310,299.1 404,937,893 1,305.0 1,388.7 18,618,438 13,407.1
5 Cast iron radiators and parts for non-central, no electrical heating system 59,381.3 57,945,754 975.8 75.8 335,492 4,423.3
6 No enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances 89,337.1 122,640,799 1,372.8 41.7 188,917 4,531.3
7 Enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances 6,271.9 12,160,035 1,938.8 33.4 248,979 7,459.4
8 No enamel or enamel cast iron baths 45,672.5 52,313,628 1,145.4 2,265.3 3,141,185 1,386.7
9 Industrial gray iron products 216,789.0 194,106,163 895.4 5,211.0 20,683,510 3,969.2
10 Other gray iron products 739,789.2 575,555,334 778.0 8,533.8 24,303,054 2,847.9
11 Malleable cast iron and steel grinding balls and similar products 46,329.1 39,093,745 843.8 81.0 486,001 5,997.5
12 Other industrial ductile iron and steel castings 168,490.7 226,636,393 1,345.1 5,274.6 15,769,110 2,989.6
13 Other non-industrial ductile iron and steel castings 114,682.9 106,144,716 925.5 2,401.2 3,295,873 1,372.6
Total 2,774,492.4 2,464,238,280 888.2 30,362.0 96,613,932 3,182.1
No. Products Countries and regions of import and export
Export ImportTonnage(ton) Value(US$) Tonnage(ton) Value(US$)
1 Ductile iron pipes with internal diameter ≥500 mm
Saudi Arabia 23,991.0 11,809,664 - -Algeria 19,072.0 9,883,638 - -Libya 14,331.0 6,314,465 - -Sudan 11,610.2 11,850,008 - -Ireland 9,451.0 3,271,127 - -
Colombia 8,678.1 4,115,833 - -Senegal 8,051.6 3,928,174 - -
United Arab Emirates 5,545.0 2,927,326 - -
2 Other cast iron pipes and hollow profiles products
Algeria 65,325.1 34,984,972 - -Spain 56,224.1 29,120,941 25.5 125,773
Saudi Arabia 56,203.0 29,658,483 - -Libya 39,019.1 19,225,785 - -
Vietnam 30,593.3 17,402,764 0.1 30 Syria 27,903.9 13,442,618 - -USA 23,866.6 15,981,405 13.4 171,367
Turkey 23,515.5 12,698,596 - -United Arab Emirates 20,850.3 12,112,407 - -
Hong Kong 18,269.1 11,509,549 13.3 18,739 South Korea 16,945.9 10,425,112 870.2 860,612
Colombia 16,865.8 9,059,231 - -Jordan 12,738.3 7,058,193 - -
South Africa 12,374.2 6,475,338 - -Singapore 11,959.9 6,934,151 2.8 8,941
India 10,359.6 5,122,993 - 577
3 Gray iron pipe fittings USA 104,037.3 112,851,372 40.0 751,710 South Korea 13,609.8 9,080,065 52.8 276,513
Table 2: Main countries and regions for Chinese castings import and export in 2007
179
InformationMay 2009
3 Gray iron pipe fittings
Spain 10,203.3 12,208,341 0.7 5,073 Canada 8,594.3 10,097,597 0.3 2,000 England 7,924.7 9,908,569 0.4 22,910 Japan 7,336.3 8,964,087 150.9 1,468,440
Hong Kong of China 6,622.0 7,221,085 1.9 34,248
4 Malleable cast iron & steel pipe fittings
USA 88,608.5 114,771,450 230.8 2,461,155 South Korea 24,177.9 25,575,568 252.1 1,236,444
Iran 13,786.7 16,127,092 - -Pakistan 10,541.0 13,002,165 - -England 9,786.9 13,895,698 35.6 3,590,418 Malaysia 8,901.7 11,178,473 - 1,688
Taiwan of China 8,690.4 11,002,550 192.1 968,616
5 Cast iron radiators and parts for no- electrical, central heating system
Kazakhstan 15,296.4 12,953,912 - -Finland 11,952.3 8,106,317 - -Russia 8,853.7 8,753,394 - -
6 No enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances &
USA 31,490.5 39,607,198 - 512 Italy 5,028.7 7,217,167 0.7 13,254
7 Enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances
USA 2,630.5 5,078,382 0.1 2,270 Canada 1,045.7 2,677,257 - -
8 Enamel or no enamel cast iron baths
Russia 20,941.7 18,593,009 - -USA 6,907.1 10,873,060 171.6 369,438
9 Industrial gray iron products
USA 65,143.4 55,828,411 270.2 1,445,018 Japan 56,314.2 49,165,625 130.2 1,020,949
Taiwan of China 16,920.1 12,117,653 341.5 699,103 South Korea 13,920.3 11,024,469 2,404.6 6,884,618
Germany 8,585.7 7,248,589 539.0 2,748,168 Italy 7,976.6 6,422,617 17.4 84,983
10 Other gray iron products
Spain 109,842.2 85,042,628 10.5 29,710 Italy 90,940.9 68,585,829 1.3 8,003
South Korea 67,186.4 42,768,355 3,144.1 9,602,882 USA 66,763.6 60,059,668 32.7 173,853
England 58,969.5 48,774,445 52.9 2,000,780 Japan 53,626.0 46,619,123 154.8 1,375,047
Germany 46,354.3 36,849,506 2,759.5 7,636,104 Belgium 21,461.6 17,587,724 2.6 306,724 Canada 20,517.3 16,043,508 0.6 150
Taiwan of China 20,417.3 13,566,816 1,289.7 1,053,234 Hong Kong of China 15,043.4 8,723,478 346.5 881,325
France 14,768.3 13,805,873 38.6 126,910 Australia 14,728.0 12,417,538 1.9 14,130 Greece 14,122.6 10,225,950 1.1 4,821
United Arab Emirates 13,098.6 9,656,384 0.2 1,328
11 Malleable cast iron and steel grinding balls and similar products
Japan 6,903.8 5,997,570 6.0 64,458 Pakistan 5,548.5 3,974,039 0.0 -Thailand 3,536.3 3,221,385 9.0 12,980
12 Other industrial ductile iron and steel castings
South Korea 41,969.3 34,486,338 3,493.3 3,270,679 USA 24,145.8 41,242,795 153.1 1,353,679
Germany 15,587.3 21,991,755 254.8 1,181,484 Hong Kong of China 8,095.4 5,030,277 0.1 2,728
Japan 7,969.9 15,388,821 303.3 2,346,952 Italy 7,707.2 10,920,953 80.4 390,604
13 Other non-industrial ductile iron and steel castings
Germany 17,119.6 15,522,932 24.9 191,016 USA 15,952.6 20,165,044 3.4 30,029
Hong Kong of China 14,139.1 5,035,388 11.5 11,761 South Korea 8,563.4 9,418,615 1,922.0 1,817,091
Taiwan of China 7,618.6 5,980,937 368.3 467,622 Spain 5,358.6 4,345,700 0.8 2,495
3. Main trade countries for Chinese castings in 2007Tonnage of main trade countries for Chinese castings in
2007 is listed in Table 3. According to the customs data, in
2007, the main trade countries for Chinese castings were
USA, South Korea, Spain, Japan, Italy, and Germany. The
180
CHINA FOUNDRY Vol.6 No.2
trade volume of these six countries was 1,232,000 tons,
making up 43.9% of the total trade volume of that year.
USA was the largest trade country with China, whose
import and export tonnage was 281,000 tons in 2006 and
437,000 tons in 2007. South Korea was the second largest
trade country with China, whose import and export volume
was 202,000 tons in 2007. But, the trade volume of 2007
decreased a small amount in comparison with 221,000 tons
in 2006. Spain had a rapid growth on castings trading with
China, from 148,000 tons in 2006 to 199,000 tons in 2007,
and became the third largest trade country with China.
Japan dropped from the second place to the present fourth,
whose trade volume was 149,000 tons in 2007, compared
to 201,000 tons in 2006.
No. ProductsCountry
USA South Korea Spain Japan Italy Germany
1 Ductile iron pipes with internal diameter ≥500 mm 417.0 573.2 2,474.2 660.4 3,935.9 32.2
2 Other cast iron pipes and hollow profile products 23,880.0 17,816.1 56,249.5 1,826.5 6,320.5 8,563.8
3 Gray iron pipe fittings 104,077.4 13,662.6 10,204.0 7,487.2 1,900.2 4,902.8
4 Malleable iron & steel pipe fittings 88,839.3 24,429.9 5200.4 4,566.7 4,951.3 4,279.4
5 Cast iron radiators and parts for no- electrical, central heating system 4,680.0 318.5 632.0 212.2 190.1 83.0
6 Enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances 31,490.6 2,188.9 2,096.8 3,840.0 5,029.4 3,126.4
7 Non enamel cast iron tables, kitchen and other household appliances 2,630.6 0.0 56.3 22.0 17.3 80.2
8 Enamel or no enamel cast iron baths 7,078.7 55.9 2,063.4 133.1 359.5 53.6
9 Industrial gray iron products 65,413.7 16,325.0 2,494.5 56,444.3 7,994.0 9,124.7
10 Other gray iron products 66,796.4 70,330.5 109,852.7 53,780.8 90,942.2 49,113.8
11 Malleable cast iron and steel grinding balls and similar products 1,648.3 654.1 222.8 6,909.7 276.8 348.0
12 Other industrial ductile iron and steel castings 24,298.9 45,462.6 1,908.1 8,273.1 7,787.6 15,842.0
13 Other non-industrial ductile iron and steel castings 15,955.9 10,485.4 5,359.4 4,715.4 2,500.9 17,144.5
Total 437,206.8 202,302.9 198,814.2 148,871.5 132,205.7 112,694.5
Table 3: Tonnage of main trade countries for Chinese castings in 2007 (ton)
4. Quantity and value of import and export of Chinese foundry machinery and equipment in 2007
No. Products UnitExport Import
Quantity ValueUS$
Average price US$/set Quantity Value
US$Average price
US$/set
1 Converters set 941 10,714,700 11,387 40 5,443,400 136,085
2 Secondary refining equipment set 519 37,989,650 73,198 42 31,854,342 758,437
3 Cold chamber die casting machines set 275 15,900,586 57,820 296 98,488,868 332,733
4 Continuous billet casters set 40 10,412,065 260,302 5 8,616,829 1,723,366
5 Continuous slab casters set 125 27,961,593 223,693 1 44,800 44,800
6 Other continuous billet casters set 296 7,409,637 25,033 8 3,137,664 392,208
Table 4: Quantity and value of import and export of Chinese foundry machinery and equipment
Quantity and value of import and export of Chinese foundry
machinery and equipment in 2007 are listed in following Table
4. It is seen that the exported value was US$ 268,950,934
about 5.8 times that imported value US$ 46,258,163.
181
InformationMay 2009
Foundry Journal Agency
If you are organising a conference or exhibition related to foundry and want to list it in CHINA FOUNDRY journal, please contact chief editor Ge Chenguang by e-mail:[email protected].
For media information to be published in CHINA FOUNDRY journal (quarterly), note: Publication date of journal: February 20 for No.1, May 20 for No. 2, August 20 for No.3, November 20 for No.4 Ad-closing date: February 5 for No.1, May 5 for No. 2, August 5 for No.3, November 5 for No.4
7 Other continuous casters set 875 27,848,326 31,827 827 151,702,045 183,437
8 Other converter, ladle, ingot mould, caster and components kg 107,918,107 268,950,934 1,956,532 46,258,163
5. Analysis on the features of import and export castings and foundry machinery and equipment
Chinese import and export castings and foundry machinery
and equipment have following features:
(a) Low export price and big difference in technical content between import and export castings
The average price of Chinese export castings was US$ 888.2
/ton in 2007, up 6.1% compared to US$ 836.8/ton in 2006.
Although the needs of metal raw materials (pig iron, steel
scrap, etc.) in 2007 rose rapidly and the cost of castings
also increased obviously, the export price of castings had
no big rise and was lower. This is about half-price or less
compared to the price of castings made locally in developed
countries. There is a big gap between Chinese export
prices and import prices, as seen in Table 1. In 2007, the
total import volume of Chinese castings was 1.1% of its
total export volume, but the total import value was 3.9% of
the total export value; and the import price was 3.6 times
more than the export one. According to the categories of
castings in Table 1, the total volume of export castings
were 2,274,000 tons. Industrial and non-industrial grey iron
castings were 740,000 tons, making up 26.7% of the total
export castings. Most of these castings are low technical
content and low value added castings, such as municipal
castings etc., which have a big percentage in export
castings, therefore, decrease the average export price of
castings. In contrast, at the same time, most of import
castings are high technical content, high quality demanded,
complicated high-end and domestic short supply products.
(b) Rapid growth of export foundry machinery and equipment, sharp contrast between import and export prices and big difference in technical content and quality
In 2007, Chinese foundry machinery and equipment
manufacturing industry grew rapidly. According to Table 4,
the gross export value of machinery and equipment was
US$ 407 million in 2007, rising 2.36 times compared to US$
121 million in 2006. Among which, the export value of the
parts of converter, ladle and ingot moulds was US$ 269
million. In 2007, the gross import value of equipment was
US$ 346 million, with a little drop, making up 74.6% of the
gross import value US$ 464 million in 2006. Although the
export of Chinese foundry machinery and equipment grow
rapidly, their average prices still have a big gap compared
with the import prices. In 2007, the average export price of
cold chamber die casting machines was US$ 73,198/set, an
increase of 37% compared to the average export price US$
53,444/set in 2006. However, the average import price of
cold chamber die casting machines was US$ 332,733/set,
4.5 times as much as the average export price. The average
export price of secondary refining equipment in 2007 was
US$ 73,198/set, while the average import price was US$
758,437/set, over 10 times as much as the export price.
As to other equipment, the big gap between the import
and export prices is also significant. As seen from above,
thanks to technology and performance improvements of
Chinese foundry machinery and equipment, the export
price is higher than that in 2006; however, most exports are
general casting equipment. In contrast, most imports are
key, high technical content foundry equipment, the import
price is several times as much as the export price. It shows
that China falls behind other countries in R&D of high-
end foundry equipment, large-scale and comprehensive
performance equipment. Therefore, Chinese foundry
machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises must
continuously improve their technology and strengthen self-
innovation as well as increase the percent of value-added
foundry machinery and equipment export.