The period from 2010 to 2015 was the "golden age" of China's air compressor industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.5% in market size, surpassing the 40 billion yuan mark in 2015. The annual production of screw air compressors has surged from 200000 units to 1.2 million units, with over 3000 industry enterprises. Domestic equipment has seized the mid to low end market with its cost-effectiveness advantage, and its export value has grown by over 20% annually, covering more than 60 countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions.
However, with market saturation and changes in economic cycles, industry competition intensifies. According to data from 2023, the number of production enterprises has soared to over 5000 (an increase of 66.7% compared to 2015), but the market size growth rate has decreased to 3.2%. The imbalance between supply and demand has triggered a price war, with the unit price of mainstream screw air compressors decreasing by 25% -30% compared to 2018, and the industry average profit margin falling below 8%. In the past three years, about 1500 companies have faced a survival crisis.
Future trend: Leading enterprises are breaking through the deadlock through technological upgrades, with energy-saving technologies such as permanent magnet frequency conversion and two-stage compression becoming the focus of transformation, and intelligent precision control and efficient operation becoming the new track.
