As a result of the rise in the labor costs and the upgrading of the country’s manufacturing industry, China’s industrial robot market has been expanding rapidly over the past few years, the Securities Times reported on Monday.
According to Wang Guanneng, general manager of Hans Motor, a Shenzhen-based industrial robot manufacturer, China’s domestic industrial robot output exceeded 100, 000 units in 2017 and is very likely to surpass one million in the next few years. In addition, the International Federation of Robotics (IRF) estimates that the total sales of China’s industrial robot products will grow from around $3.4 billion in 2016 to roughly $5.8 billion by 2020, meaning a compound annual growth rate of 14.72 percent.
Wang cites the labor shortage and the overseas relocation of many domestic manufacturers as two main reasons for the country’s increasing demand for industrial robots. “However, given the higher investment risk in regions like India and Southeast Asia, the introduction of robotic production lines can help keep those manufacturers from going abroad,” said Wang.
Additionally, China’s industrial robot industry is also motivated by the support from the government. The release of several policies aimed at promoting the country’s manufacturing sector has created a favorable policy environment for the industry to develop.
According to a development plan for China’s robotics industry which was jointly issued by several ministries in May, 2016, China aims to establish a relatively mature robotics industry and make the annual output of the industrial robot products with domestic brand names achieve 100, 000 by 2020.
Despite the dominant position of foreign industrial robot manufacturers in the Chinese market at present, experts still show their confidence in domestic brands.
QuDaokui, executive president of the China Robot Industry Alliance, predicts that by 2020, China’s high-end industrial robot products will take up at least 50 percent of the domestic market.
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