A visitor views an excavator model during the 2020 World Industrial Design Conference in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province, Nov. 25, 2020. (Photo by Sun Wentan/Xinhua)
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China's major excavator makers registered a slower year-on-year drop in total sales and a sharp increase in exports last month, industry data showed, as the construction machinery sector gradually recovered from the COVID-19 disruptions.
The country's 26 excavator manufacturers sold a total of 20,624 units last month, down 24.2 percent year on year, narrowing from the 47.3-percent decline in April, data from the China Construction Machinery Association showed.
In particular, exports of these companies surged 63.9 percent year on year to 8,445 units. The growth rate accelerated from the 55.2-percent increase in April.
In the first five months, excavator sales declined 39.1 percent year on year to 122,333 units. Exports came in at 42,236 units, soaring 75.7 percent from the same period a year ago.
Deemed a barometer of the vitality of infrastructure development, sales of digging machines are usually backed by growth in mining and infrastructure construction.
China has ramped up efforts to expand investment in infrastructure construction this year. Last month, the country unveiled a package of detailed policy measures to further stabilize the economy, including accelerating some approved water conservancy projects and speeding up investment in transportation infrastructure.
Policy banks will increase the credit line by another 800 billion yuan (about 119 billion U.S. dollars) to provide financial support for infrastructure building, according to a State Council executive meeting earlier this month.
A single purchase
