Donghai Securities: The average export price of domestic machine tools is increasing significantly, leading companies are upgrading their products.

East Sea Securities released a research report stating that machine tools are widely used in downstream manufacturing industries, and are closely related to the level of manufacturing industry prosperity and transformation. The growth of the manufacturing industry has a positive driving effect on domestic machine tool demand. Domestic machine tool leaders are actively laying out in the high-end numerical control system and intelligent manufacturing field, reshaping the competitive landscape of the machine tool industry. It is recommended to pay attention to domestic machine tool leading enterprises with strong R&D capabilities, core technological barriers, independently controllable core components, and deep ties with downstream major customers. The main points of East Sea Securities are as follows: Event According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first two months of 2026, China's metal cutting machine tool production reached 125,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 4.20%. According to the General Administration of Customs statistics, China's machine tool exports amounted to $2.204 billion in the first two months of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 15.70%, with an export quantity of 1.78 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 22.10%; China's machine tool imports amounted to $845 million, a year-on-year decrease of 3.90%, with an import quantity of 8,687 units, a year-on-year decrease of 28.60%. Machine tool market maintains growth at the beginning of the year In the first two months of 2026, metal cutting machine tool production increased by 4.2% year-on-year. The growth trend at the beginning of the year is stable, with limited impact from the Spring Festival holiday. In Beijing, the production of CNC metal cutting machine tools reached 822 units, a year-on-year increase of 20.9%. Based on the import situation in the first two months of 2026, the year-on-year changes in import quantity and import amount were -28.60% and -3.90%, respectively. This decline in imports indicates that domestic high-end machine tools are gradually meeting the demand for high-end products, and the process of domestic substitution is accelerating. From the perspective of domestic macro data, the demand for machine tools is closely related to the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, high-end equipment investment, and equipment renewal progress. From the perspective of macroeconomic data, the PMI of the high-tech manufacturing industry reached 51.50% in February 2026, a year-on-year increase of 0.6 percentage points, remaining in the expansion zone, indicating a good outlook for the downstream high-end manufacturing industry. Demand in downstream sectors such as new energy vehicles, Siasun Robot&Automation, aerospace, and other high-end fields remains stable, driving growth in domestic sales of high-end numerical control machine tools. In addition, domestic policies are supporting the high-end machine tool industry, with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments jointly issuing the "Mechanical Industry Stable Growth Work Plan (2025-2026)," which encourages companies to increase investment in technological innovation, accelerate equipment updates, promote the transformation of machine tools towards high-end and intelligent manufacturing, and meet the domestic demand in the high-end manufacturing sector. In addition, the "Construction Plan for High-Quality Standards System of Industrial Mother Machines" jointly issued by the National Standards Committee and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is being promoted synchronously, providing financial support for equipment updates through the year. The steady growth pace of the machine tool industry may continue throughout 2026. Significant increase in machine tool export unit price Looking at the core export data, the export amount of machine tools increased by 15.70% year-on-year in the first two months of 2026, but the export quantity decreased by 22.10% year-on-year. The average export price of machine tools reached $12,400 per unit, a significant increase of 71.04% year-on-year. The structure of exports shows significant improvements in quality and efficiency, demonstrating the effectiveness of the transformation of domestic machine tools towards high-end products, with an increase in the proportion of high value-added CNC machine tools for export. Looking at the order situation in overseas markets, in January 2026, Japan's annual order amount for metal cutting machine tools reached 107.867 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 20.20%; in February 2026, the manufacturing PMI in the United States and Europe reached 52.4% and 50.6%, a year-on-year increase of 2.1 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively, indicating a good recovery trend in manufacturing in developed countries, with sustained overseas demand for equipment. As Chinese machine tool technology continues to iterate and upgrade, the export of cost-effective domestic machine tool equipment may continue to grow. Shenyang Machine Tool Released iterated products, leading China's industrial mother machine into a new phase. On March 20th, Shenyang Machine Tool held a product launch event, unveiling 9 models of 4 categories of iterated technology products, including vertical machining centers, horizontal CNC lathes, gantry machining centers, and vertical five-axis linkage machining centers. In 2025, the company invested 215 million yuan in R&D and raised 1.7 billion yuan from the capital market, strengthening its high-end manufacturing capabilities. It formed an innovative alliance with upstream and downstream companies to conduct collaborative research on key links, continuously breaking through core technologies. Guangdong Create Century Intelligent Equipment Group Corporation Introduced the fifth generation T-V856S vertical machining center. The company's Taiqun Precision Machinery's 856 series of vertical machining centers has accumulated sales exceeding 40,000 units. The new product improves tool change efficiency by 30% and effectively reduces equipment maintenance costs through lubrication design. The product is targeted towards emerging precision machining fields such as new energy vehicles, AI servers, humanoid Siasun Robot& Automation, further consolidating the company's leading position in the domestic vertical machining center sector and promoting the continuous process of domestic replacement of general machine tools. Risk Warning: Risks associated with the process of technological iteration falling short of expectations; risks of slower than expected release of capacity; risks of intensified industry competition.