According to industry foreign trade statistics, domestic exports of counterweight iron experienced explosive growth in the first half of 2026, with the total export value of all categories increasing by 28.5% year-on-year. Countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia, and procurement of mining equipment in Africa became the core growth markets for the industry's exports. High-end customized precision counterweights (electrophoretic treatment, fully machined finished products) marked the industry's entry into a structural upward cycle of low-end volume sales and high-end premium pricing. Zunhua Shengjian Fanrong Machinery Parts Co., Ltd., located in Zunhua, Tangshan, leverages the advantages of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei casting industry cluster and keeps abreast of global changes in construction machinery demand. It has achieved stable shipments of conventional gray cast iron counterweights and continued to expand orders for lightweight alloy precision counterweights, becoming one of the main counterweight export manufacturers in Hebei Province.
From a global demand perspective, the penetration rate of electric construction machinery in the European and American markets continues to rise, rapidly releasing the demand for lightweight alloy counterweights as a substitute. Traditional gray cast iron counterweights, with their high cost-effectiveness, are steadily selling in the Middle East and Southeast Asian infrastructure markets. Tangshan, Zunhua, and Cangzhou, as long-established core export production areas for counterweight iron in China, leverage their logistical advantages of proximity to Tianjin Port and Huanghua Port, along with their mature casting industry chain, to continuously receive large-scale counterweight orders from both domestic and international markets. Production capacity and foreign trade orders in these areas are rising in tandem, making them key sectors supporting the growth of counterweight exports nationwide.
As a local Zunhua manufacturer specializing in counterweight components for over a decade, Zunhua Shengjian Fanrong Machinery Parts offers both standardized mass production and non-standard customized products. Standardized gray iron counterweights are shipped in bulk to infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia and mining projects in Africa, meeting the needs of cranes, excavators, and mining equipment. The company has independently put into operation electrophoretic corrosion protection and CNC machining production lines, mass-producing high-end precision counterweights and lightweight alloy counterweights, successfully entering the supply chains of European and American electric construction machinery. The export prices of high-end products are close to industry benchmarks, and product added value is steadily increasing through process upgrades.
The company representative explained, "In the first half of 2026, the Belt and Road Initiative accelerated infrastructure construction, African mining development increased significantly, and the localization of new energy engineering machinery in Europe and the United States led to a marked shift in overseas customers' purchasing logic. Profit margins for low-end raw counterweights continued to shrink, while customized counterweights with surface treatment and precision machining became more popular overseas. Leveraging the advantages of raw materials and industrial support in Hebei's production area, we continuously optimized our production processes, strictly controlling dimensional accuracy and corrosion resistance. This allowed us to maintain our core overseas sales volume of mass-market counterweights while also securing high-end foreign trade orders with our precision-machined products." Industry analysts pointed out that the concentrated implementation of Belt and Road infrastructure projects in the second half of the year, the peak season for African mining equipment procurement, and the expansion of electric engineering machinery production capacity in the EU and North America are expected to maintain the strong export performance of domestic counterweight iron. Hebei counterweight manufacturers, represented by Zunhua Shengjian Fanrong, will continue to leverage their locational, production capacity, and technological advantages to further explore the incremental markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, increase their investment in the high-end precision counterweight market in Europe and the United States, and continuously consolidate the global export competitiveness of domestically produced counterweight components.
