China has developed into the world's largest producer of automotive bearings, but it is not yet a strong nation in the world's automotive bearing industry. In terms of industrial structure, development capability, technical level, product quality and efficiency benefits, China's automotive bearing industry is far behind the international advanced level. Internationally, China's automotive bearing industry is still in a weak position in terms of basic theory, cutting-edge science, original technology, testing technology, and experimental technology. Most of the automobile bearings produced in China are still in the international market.
China has developed into the world's largest producer of automotive bearings, but it is not yet a strong nation in the world's automotive bearing industry. In terms of industrial structure, development capability, technical level, product quality and efficiency benefits, China's automotive bearing industry is far behind the international advanced level. Internationally, China's automotive bearing industry is still in a weak position in terms of basic theory, cutting-edge science, original technology, testing technology, and experimental technology. Most of the automotive bearings produced in China are still at the low end of the international bearing industry chain, and almost all high-end bearings rely on imports.
In 2018, China's automobile production was 27.809 million units, and the output of automobile bearings was about 1.175 billion sets, with a total output value of about 33.2 billion yuan. Automobiles have more demand for bearings, and key enterprises such as automobile transmissions, engines, and axles need to use bearings. In terms of the number of supporting bearings, deep groove ball bearings, tapered roller bearings and needle roller bearings are the main ones, and in terms of size, medium-small and medium-large bearings are the main ones. According to the research report of China Research and Puhua, ``2020-2025 China Automotive Bearing Industry Market Panoramic Research and Investment Prospect Forecast Report'' analysis
At present, automobile wheel bearing units in the domestic market are mainly provided by foreign joint ventures or wholly-owned enterprises. For example, Sweden's SKF factory in China is not only for Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng Shenlong, Shanghai GM, Changan Ford, etc., but also for Chinese independent brands. Cars such as Changan, Brilliance, Chery, etc. are matched. In recent years, there have been a few domestic manufacturers of wheel bearing units with independent brands that have begun to enter the supporting market through technological innovation. For example, Wanxiang Qianchao has provided supporting vehicles for Volkswagen, Changan, Chery, BYD and other vehicle manufacturers. As China's after-sales market is still dominated by original parts provided by the 4S system, the competitive landscape of the aforementioned supporting market also affects the domestic after-sales market accordingly. With the accelerating integration of China's after-sales market, competitors will be diversified in the future and will face fierce competition from foreign competitors.
China's automobile wheel bearing unit products are mainly driven by the domestic supporting market, after-sales market and export market. In recent years, various market demands have shown an increasing trend. In terms of supply, driven by demand growth, domestic automobile wheel bearing unit manufacturers have carried out technological transformations to expand their production scale, and the market supply is also showing an expansion trend. It is expected that this trend will continue in the next few years.
The technical quality of automobile bearing steel, the quality of special equipment for bearing manufacturing and the quality of high-precision bearing rollers are the three shortcomings of China's automobile bearing industry. Chinese automobile bearing enterprises should aim at the technological frontiers of the international automobile bearing industry, benchmark with multinational automobile bearing companies, achieve catch-up, promote international cooperation, and realize the internationalization of markets, resources, talents and layout.
With the improvement of living standards, the passenger car market is extremely hot, and the market share of passenger cars is getting higher and higher. Although the replacement ratio of passenger car bearings is more comparable, the advantages in the number of passenger cars still make passenger car bearings occupy more than 80% of the market share. The current situation of automotive bearings, the main core technologies are in the hands of foreigners, of course, some domestic brands can also make high-quality bearings, but there is still a certain gap between the accuracy and the number of revolutions and the heat resistance of foreign brands.
China’s bearing industry is based on Kazakhstan, Wazhou and Luozhou. At present, China’s bearing industry is led by six leading companies, namely Harbin, Wazhou, Luozhou, Tianma, Qianchao, and People-oriented. Qianchao mainly focuses on automobiles. The universal joint (usually including four sets of bearings) and automobile wheel bearing business in the field of universal joints are the country’s largest manufacturer of universal joints; automobile wheel bearings have entered the supply chain of joint venture cars.
In addition to Wazhou, Tianma, and Wanxiang Qianchao, there are currently 9 bearing-related companies that have landed on the capital market. Among them, 4 companies are mainly engaged in automotive bearings, namely Xiangyang Bearing, which mainly engages in automotive bearings (mainly heavy-duty truck wheel bearings); Southern Bearings, mainly for automobiles and motorcycles, with the largest output of needle roller bearings in China; and Shanghai Set Excellent, its railway truck bearings and miniature bearings are well-known in the country. The group also has steam turbine blades, cutters, fasteners and other businesses; Linyi Kaiyuan mainly engages in automotive bearings (heavy trucks, cars), metallurgical and mining bearings.
In the future, more bearing-related listed companies will appear on the Chinese capital market. Among them, Changzhou Guangyang, Wuzhou New Year, Lixing Steel Ball, Xinxiang Risheng, and Daye Axis are already operating and listed, and Waye Mine, MOS Group, and Dibang Samsung are also interested in listing. Among these companies, Changzhou Guangyang, Wuzhou Xinchun, and Lixing Steel Ball mainly focus on automotive bearings.
[Source: China Research Network] Author: Zhongwei Bearing Network