Global Demand Surges for Cast Iron Agricultural Machinery Components: Technology and Policy Drive Industry Expansion
The market demand for cast iron agricultural machinery castings continues to rise, and the industry's development prospects are broad. With the acceleration of the global agricultural modernization process, cast iron agricultural machinery castings, as key basic components of agricultural machinery, are showing a sustained growth trend in market demand. According to the latest data from market research institutions, the market size of agricultural machinery castings in China exceeded 70 billion yuan in 2024, with a total output of over 6.5 million tons. This growth trend is expected to continue in 2025, with a growth rate of about 5% to 10%, and the market size is expected to reach approximately 78 billion to 80 billion yuan. Cast iron agricultural machinery castings are widely used in core components of various agricultural machinery such as tractors, harvesters, and seeders, including engine blocks, transmission cases, and drive axle housings. Their quality directly affects the performance, reliability, and service life of agricultural machinery, playing a crucial role in agricultural production. In recent years, with the continuous increase in the country's emphasis on food security and strong support for the development of agricultural mechanization, the demand for agricultural machinery has remained strong. Not only has the advancement of new and renovated farmland projects driven the large-scale purchase of agricultural machinery equipment, but the implementation of the policy of exchanging old agricultural machinery for new has further stimulated the renewal and upgrading of agricultural machinery, thereby providing significant growth momentum for the market of cast iron agricultural machinery castings. From the perspective of the domestic market, with the improvement of agricultural modernization, farmers' demand for efficient, intelligent and environmentally friendly agricultural machinery is becoming increasingly urgent. The market share of high-end agricultural machinery such as large tractors and combine harvesters is constantly expanding, and the demand for high-quality cast iron agricultural machinery castings is also rising accordingly. At the same time, in the international market, the in-depth promotion of the "Belt and Road" initiative has made trade cooperation between China and ASEAN and other regions increasingly close. The manufacturing industry in Southeast Asia is developing rapidly, and the demand for agricultural machinery is continuously increasing. The export situation of China's agricultural machinery is good, which in turn has driven the export demand for cast iron agricultural machinery castings. In terms of technological innovation, to meet the market demand for high-performance and lightweight agricultural machinery castings, enterprises in the industry have continuously increased their investment in research and development, and actively explored new materials and new processes. For instance, materials such as gray cast iron, ductile iron, and alloy cast iron are widely used in the production of agricultural machinery castings due to their excellent wear resistance, shock absorption, and corrosion resistance. Particularly, ductile iron, with its outstanding mechanical and processing properties, has become one of the preferred materials for modern agricultural machinery equipment, effectively enhancing the strength and toughness of castings and prolonging the service life of agricultural machinery. Moreover, the application of advanced processes such as sand casting, lost foam casting, and precision casting has further improved product quality and production efficiency. It is worth mentioning that some enterprises have achieved a comprehensive upgrade of their production processes through intelligent transformation. For instance, a certain company invested 560 million yuan to introduce advanced foreign technologies and equipment, creating an intelligent digital workshop. In the processes of material preparation, smelting, molding, and core making, it has realized intelligent and automated operations. After the intelligent transformation, the number of workers in the workshop was reduced by half, while the production capacity increased from 80,000 tons to 160,000 tons, and the scrap rate dropped below 3%, reaching the leading level in the national foundry industry. With the accelerated process of agricultural machinery renewal and the gradual increase in industrial concentration, casting enterprises with outdated technology and small scale will be gradually eliminated from the market, and the market share of leading enterprises will further expand. This not only helps to improve the production efficiency and product quality of the entire industry, but also provides a strong guarantee for meeting the market demand for high-quality cast iron agricultural machinery castings. Looking ahead, driven by policy support, market demand growth and technological innovation, the cast iron agricultural machinery casting industry will have a broader development space and play an important role in promoting the development of global agricultural mechanization.