Price Fluctuations and Challenges of Chinese Construction Machinery in the Russian Market
Recently, the strengthening of the Russian ruble exchange rate has led to a decline in the prices of Chinese construction machinery in the first quarter of 2025. However, equipment entering the Russian market through parallel import channels has not shown significant price reductions. According to Russian Construction Machinery Network, price fluctuations of wheeled excavators from well-known brands such as New Holland, Case, and JCB in the second-hand market have become a focal point of market attention. These devices reached price peaks from late 2022 to the first half of 2023, with the average price of equipment from brands that had exited the Russian market increasing by 70% compared to December 2021. Subsequently, price fluctuations gradually stabilized, and the rate of increase slowed down. As of March 2025, these equipment prices remained basically stable compared to December 2024.
Price Changes and Supply and Demand
At the same time, Chinese construction machinery began to show a downward price trend by the end of 2024, mainly due to market oversupply. After facing a shortage crisis in 2022, Russian consumers concentrated on releasing their purchasing demand in 2023. Pyotr Yegorov, General Manager of КВИНТМАДИ (an official agent for NFLG and Sany Heavy Industry, also engaged in parallel import business), stated that 2023 was the best year for dealers in recent years, with market demand reaching its peak and actual sales even fulfilling more than two years' worth of targets, as the market had once stagnated in 2022.
However, market laws indicate that any upsurge is followed by a decline. Therefore, the downward trend in demand in 2024 was predictable, and high borrowing costs further exacerbated this deterioration. Additionally, due to expectations of rising recycling taxes, importers heavily stockpiled Chinese equipment in 2023, leading to a significant increase in inventory pressure in 2025 and forcing sellers to reduce prices for promotions—even though the exchange rate for these inventories was more unfavorable to the ruble at the time of purchase.
Market Trends and Impacts
Yegorov pointed out that on the surface, this seems unfavorable to them. Most suppliers purchased equipment in mid-2024 when the U.S. dollar exchange rate was 10%-15% higher than the current rate, meaning dealers now need to sell at a loss. However, he also noted that purchasing future inventory at current prices may be an opportunity to balance收支 (balance payments). Unfortunately, only a few importers with low inventory pressure and low debt can seize this rare opportunity. Parallel-imported equipment prices remain stable, second-hand market fluctuations have slowed, but prices of equipment from official Chinese channels have dropped significantly due to exchange rate impacts. Dealers face challenges of inventory backlogs and losses.
Price and Impacts
The scale of parallel imports is much smaller than the supply from China's official channels, so its prices (even with the strengthening of the Russian ruble) are difficult to reduce. Customers in this field have clear goals: they are willing to bear high prices while accepting the uncertainty of follow-up services. Of course, price is still sensitive to them, and suppliers may adjust prices by reducing configurations to cope with changes in market demand.
Delivery Cycle Issues
Respondents from Construction Machinery Network pointed out that the costs of parallel imports include not only equipment and transportation fees but also long waiting periods. For the delivery of complex equipment, customers may need to wait 3 to 12 months, during which funds will be frozen—a highly unfavorable factor for them. About Attachments Camp: As a media platform in the construction machinery attachments industry, we focus on discussing solutions for construction machinery in different application scenarios and are committed to sharing practical applications of multifunctional attachments.
