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.

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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

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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:gcg@foundryworld.com.

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.