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English
Against the backdrop of the new era of agricultural mechanization development in China, the Agricultural Mechanization General Station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs publicly solicited opinions on the "Promotion and Identification Outline for Electric Wheel Tractors" on March 5, 2024. This move is widely interpreted by the industry as the precursor to the era of electric tractors in China. With the promulgation of this outline, it is mean the advent of the era of electric tractors in China, as well as the dawn of the comprehensive electrification era, opening up a potentially huge multi-billion-dollar track for the domestic electric agricultural machinery market.
According to market data, the value of powered agricultural machinery sold through the national subsidy system annually is about 80 billion yuan, coupled with imports and exports, the domestic market size of powered agricultural machinery exceeds 100 billion yuan. This huge market provides vast space for the development of electric agricultural machinery. In the long run, the prospects of electric agricultural machinery are widely optimistic, and major enterprises are scrambling to make layouts, aiming to seize opportunities in the domestic and even global electric agricultural machinery markets.
However, not all enterprises will become lucky ones in this wave of electrification. Some large enterprises, such as Yituo and Weichai Lovol, will quickly integrate the resources required for electric agricultural machinery by virtue of their mature industrial chain systems in the automotive and construction machinery industries, and utilize their strong brand influence to quickly push products into the market. These enterprises have industrial advantages in agricultural machinery products with economies of scale, such as tractors and combine harvesters, but small and medium-sized enterprises and specialized enterprises also have opportunities in non-scaled products and specialized categories with high requirements, such as small electric micro-tillers and electric seeders.
Meanwhile, some technology-oriented companies, such as Zhaotian Agricultural Technology and Zhongke Yuan Power, have also demonstrated strong potential in the field of electric agricultural machinery. These enterprises utilize information technology, digital technology, new business models, and new media as weapons, combined with their strong capital, to disrupt and reshape the traditional agricultural machinery industry. Their emergence not only promotes the upgrading of industry technology but also facilitates the reconstruction of business models.
Moreover, apart from the main battlefield of electric agricultural machinery in large field crops, specialized agricultural machinery enterprises in facilities, orchards, and vegetables will also usher in new development opportunities. These segmented scenarios, due to convenient charging and battery swapping, and mainly using small and medium-sized power agricultural machinery, are more conducive to achieving electrification. Agricultural machinery production enterprises that produce small and medium-sized power specialized equipment required for these featured agricultural machines, such as orchard tractors, lawn mowers, and forklifts, are expected to be the first to enjoy the dividends brought by electric agricultural machinery.
It is worth noting that the development of electric agricultural machinery is not simply replacing the engines of fossil fuel agricultural machines with batteries and motors. The revolutionary changes in its cost structure may disrupt the existing product category structure and the structure of the product itself. The structure of electric agricultural machinery will be greatly simplified, and the cost structure will be optimized, which will help reduce the price of agricultural machinery, increase users' willingness to purchase, and thereby promote the rapid development of the electric agricultural machinery market.
In conclusion, with the advent of the era of electric tractors, China's agricultural machinery industry will usher in new development opportunities. Whether large or small enterprises, traditional or technology-oriented enterprises, they will all play important roles in this wave of electrification, jointly promoting the progress and development of China's agricultural machinery industry.
