In the summer of 2025, 'anti involution' will become one of the key words in the economic field. Since July, multiple important central meetings have continuously released signals to rectify "internal competition" and clearly pointed to "governing disorderly competition among enterprises", "promoting capacity management in key industries", and "regulating local investment attraction behavior".
On August 1st, the National Development and Reform Commission once again stated that it is coordinating measures such as revising laws, introducing policies, improving standards, and strengthening industry self-discipline to accelerate the rectification of "internal competition" issues. According to expert analysis, under the framework of building a unified national market, anti "involution" competition is being further implemented and refined, and "anti involution" may be one of the key work priorities in the second half of the year.
Under the thunderous policies, photovoltaic and steel giants have taken the lead in collectively reducing production, while the automotive and express delivery industries have quickly followed suit. The "anti internal competition" is being refined from policy signals to tangible industry changes. When will the first shot be fired in this self redemption battle for the construction machinery industry, which is deeply mired in the quagmire of internal competition?
Hidden worries under growth, deeply trapped in the dilemma of internal competition
Since 2025, the construction machinery industry has delivered an impressive performance, with excavator sales reaching 137700 units from January to July, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%; The sales volume of loaders was 73800 units, an increase of 12.8%. However, behind the growth in sales, it is difficult to conceal deep-seated concerns. The sales growth rate of 名媛直播 such as excavators in this cycle is much smaller than that in the recovery stage of the previous cycle. At the same time, sales of categories such as tower cranes and construction cranes continue to decline.
The industry is now deeply trapped in the "involution" dilemma, with low-priced sales, free services, and vicious competition, like an endless vortex, devouring the profits of enterprises and the future of the industry.
One is the vicious cycle of self destruction of the Great Wall. For many years, the construction machinery industry has been embroiled in a continuous "price war", with competition intensifying and causing great harm to various enterprises. According to statistics, the terminal transaction price of 20 ton excavators has cumulatively dropped by nearly 20% in the past three years. Malignant competition has led to a sharp drop in the industry's average gross profit margin, and some small and medium-sized enterprises have fallen into the operational dilemma of "incremental growth without income increase".
Price reduction is easy but price increase is difficult. Although the construction machinery market has experienced multiple waves of price adjustments in recent years, historical experience shows that these efforts are often drowned out in the more intense competition in the terminal market. Extreme measures such as low down payment, zero down payment credit sales, and "lifetime free services" further increase industry risks, forming a vicious cycle of "price reduction wait and see price reduction".
The second is overcapacity, and the supply-demand imbalance has reached a shocking level. In the past decade, China's infrastructure boom has driven the rapid development of construction machinery. However, as the economy enters a new normal, the growth rate of real estate development and infrastructure investment slows down, and equipment demand decreases accordingly. The tower crane market is particularly fierce, with sales plummeting from 45000 units in 2021 to 7400 units in 2024, a sharp drop of 83%.
However, major enterprises adhere to the low price share grabbing model, and the contraction of market demand and the inertia of enterprise expansion overlap, leading to a surge in market ownership and a rapid shift towards stock competition in the industry, resulting in a sharp decline in capacity utilization.
How to 'counter internal competition' in the second half of the year?
The key to curbing vicious competition lies in strictly controlling the disorderly "quantity", balancing scale and resilience, and breaking the cycle of "expansion surplus internal competition", which is the way for the industry to develop healthily in the long run.
From a policy perspective, 2025 has become the first year of "anti involution" rule of law, and the government work report in March included for the first time "governance of involution style competition"; The revised Anti Unfair Competition Law in June (implemented in October) explicitly prohibits dumping below cost price; In July, the Central Financial and Economic Commission meeting once again proposed the "anti involution" competition, deepening the construction of a unified national market, regulating low price and disorderly competition among enterprises in accordance with laws and regulations, guiding enterprises to improve product quality, and promoting the orderly exit of backward production capacity.
The core of rectifying "involution style" competition is to break down involution, rather than eliminate competition, from "involution" price to "involution" value. For construction machinery enterprises, there are three reliable paths to achieve "anti involution":
Technological upgrade: Many enterprises have begun to increase their R&D investment, improve product quality and technological level, and transition from a high-speed growth period to a high-quality development period. The proportion of R&D costs for new energy, digitalization, and intelligent transformation and upgrading is increasing, and the cost structure is fundamentally changing, thereby enhancing the market share and profitability of enterprises.
Expanding the aftermarket: In recent years, construction machinery host companies and distribution agents have gradually increased their attention and investment in the aftermarket, and have begun to incorporate service premiums into their pricing system. They have continuously expanded the breadth and depth of their services, shifting from simple equipment sales to providing full lifecycle services, and such value-added services are being transformed into price components.
Globalization layout: Emerging markets and high-end markets need to make dual breakthroughs. Currently, overseas markets are showing strong resilience, and the explosive demand for infrastructure in emerging economies combined with environmental upgrades in mature markets provides vast incremental space for Chinese construction machinery enterprises.
The Earth is large enough to accommodate the common development of all enterprises. As the price lever begins to leverage deep elements such as technology research and development, service innovation, and model transformation, China's construction machinery is entering a new development stage of "pricing by quality", and the industry is expected to shift from a "red ocean of buying prices" to a "blue ocean of creating value".
