Over the years, among the world casting output data published by modern casting magazine of American Foundry Association, China’s casting output data are submitted after a large number of investigation, statistics and calculation by China Foundry Association. At the 15th Annual Meeting of China Foundry Association on March 11, 2019, the executive vice president of China Foundry Association released the data of China’s casting output in 2018. In 2018, China’s total output of various castings was 49.35 million tons, basically the same as that in 2017; The demand structure of castings in downstream industries has changed significantly. Since 2000, China’s casting output has shown a positive growth trend as a whole; Since 2011, it has changed from “high-speed growth” to “medium and low-speed growth”. During this period, there was a decrease of 1.3% in 2015, and the total output in 2018 decreased slightly compared with the previous year.
From the perspective of the change in the demand structure of castings in downstream industries, cast pipes and pipe fittings, construction machinery and rail transit all had high positive growth in 2018, reaching 7.2%, 11.9% and 9% respectively; In general machinery, hydraulic parts, pump and valve products have also maintained a high positive growth; The demand for Castings in the automotive industry has declined for the first time in many years. The demand for Castings in most industries such as agricultural machinery, power generation equipment and electric power has declined significantly. Driven by the export of centrifugal casting pipe, engineering machinery, rail transit, pump valve and other general machinery and castings, China’s casting output in 2018 can remain basically the same as that of the previous year.
Proportion of casting market demand in China: the proportion of casting Market in construction machinery, casting pipes and pipe fittings and rail transit industry increased; The automotive industry is the largest demand user of castings, and the proportion of automotive castings decreased to 30.0% in 2018 (up to 30.6% in 2017); The market share of agricultural machinery, machine tools and other industries has declined. In terms of the output of castings of different materials, the output of gray cast iron was 21.15 million tons in 2017 and 20.65 million tons in 2018, a decrease of 2.4%; Driven by centrifugal cast iron pipe, nodular cast iron (including vermicular cast iron) increased from 13.75 million tons to 14.15 million tons, an increase of 2.9%; Driven by rail transit, mining, metallurgy, heavy machinery, construction machinery and other industries, the output of steel castings continued to grow, with a growth rate of 3.6%; Affected by the decline of automobile and motorcycle production, aluminum (magnesium) alloy castings showed negative growth for the first time, with a decrease of 2.1%; Malleable cast iron, copper alloy and other castings have little change.
In terms of the proportion of Chinese castings of various materials, in 2018, the output of steel castings maintained growth, and the proportion increased to 11.7% (11.3% in 2017 and 10.8% in 2016); The output proportion of aluminum (magnesium) alloy castings was reduced to 14.5% (14.8% in 2017 and 14.6% in 2016); The output of nodular iron castings increased, accounting for 28.7% (27.8% in 2017 and 28.0% in 2016).