According to the statistical data collected by China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA), the overall forklift sales amount on the world market in the first half of 2011 reached 461,101 sets, realizing a year-on-year increase of 34.06%, among which the forklift sales amount in China in this period was up to 128,209 sets with a year-on-year increase of 35.48%, making the country continue to be the largest forklift market in the whole world. Chinese forklift enterprises were experiencing the hottest records of marketing and sales, and were also sparing no efforts to improve the images of their own brands.

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It was informed that in recent years, the forklift industry in China experienced a fast development. Although it was impacted a lot by the global financial crisis and the forklift sales on the domestic market in China dropped sharply in the first half of 2009, it began to recover at a fast speed in the second half year. A research report once pointed out that the increasing rate of the forklift sales in China was as high as 62%, and 230,000 sets of forklifts (including the export volume) were sold in China in 2010, which was the first time to exceed 200,000 sets. During the period of the eleventh five-year plan, the annual average increasing rate of forklift sales reached about 25%. At present, the forklift sales in China occupied more than one quarter of the total sales amount in the world and the market was more perspective than expectation.

Facing with such a hopeful market situation, forklift enterprises in China continued to upgrade their technology and strengthen the development of new products, entering high-end forklift market with quality and innovative forklift products. Meanwhile, the foreign-funded forklift enterprises also fastened their step to conduct localized production. Even Nissan forklift, which had little advantages in terms of production scope or technology on the Chinese market, announced this year that they planed to produce forklifts in China since November, targeting at the profitable forklift market in China.

An analyst in China Construction Machinery Association told China United Business News that the forklift industry in China was still staying in the growing period, during which most of the domestic manufacturers targeted their forklift products at the low and medium markets and only a few of the forklift manufacturers truly mastered the core technology and innovative capacity to develop new forklifts. However, the domestic forklift brands still occupied most of the market shares in China relying on the advantages in terms of price, quality and after sales service. 

In the list of 2010 World Top 20 Forklift Suppliers issued by Modern Material Handling (MMH), there were 3 Chinese forklift manufacturers shining to the whole industry. The No.1 forklift manufacturer Anhui Forklift Group (HELI, Stock Code: 600671) was ranking at No. 6 on the list with global sales revenue up to 668 million dollars in 2009 fiscal year, and Zhejiang Hangcha at No.15 with sales revenue of 251 million dollars, Hytsu Group at No.19 with sales revenue of 86 million dollars. 

In the first half of 2011, Anhui Forklift Group (HELI) sold more than 40,000 sets of forklifts, increasing 42.2% in terms of sales revenue than the same period last year. As the forklift enterprises in China enjoyed the advantages lying in price, quality, locale and after sales, the foreign forklift brands had to cut their price down and took related measures to fasten the development process of localized market.

Jerry Hu, the Chairman of the Board of Hytsu Group, said that the price competition among domestic forklift brands was not favorable for the development of Chinese market in a long term. In his opinion, the only way to win more market shares lied in improving the quality of the forklifts. Nowadays, foreign forklift brands including Komatsu, Caterpillar, Toyota, Linde, Kion, Junheinrich and Mitsubishi had occupied a part of the market in China.