According to the official WeChat account of the Sichuan Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of the year, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle achieved a regional GDP of 4036.57 billion yuan, accounting for 6.5% of the national total and 30.7% of the western region. This represents an increase of 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year, with a year-on-year growth rate of 5.8%, which is 0.8 percentage points higher than the national and western regional averages. In Sichuan, the GDP reached 2626.75 billion yuan, an increase of 5.6%, while in Chongqing, the GDP reached 1409.82 billion yuan, a 6.1% increase, both higher than the national and western regional averages.

The implementation of the western development strategy is a major decision made by the Party Central Committee to comprehensively plan for the future and face the new century. In May 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the 'Guiding Opinions on Forming a New Pattern of Advancing Western Development in the New Era', which clearly aims to establish a new pattern of great protection, opening up, and high-quality development.

On October 8, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Transportation issued a bidding announcement for investors for the Jin Kou River to Xichang expressway project and the Zhaojue to Puge expressway project. The total investment estimate for both projects, with a total length of approximately 287.83 kilometers, is about 67.323 billion yuan. The Liangshan Prefecture People's Government is the inviting party, and the project implementing institution is the Liangshan Prefecture Department of Transportation.

China Merchants Securities pointed out that in a recent State Council Information Office press conference, the People's Bank of China, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the National Development and Reform Commission successively expressed support for local government bonds. It is expected that various ministries will continue to intensify their efforts to support the issuance of local government bonds. With increased efforts in bond issuance, infrastructure projects that were previously suspended or terminated due to bond issuance are expected to restart, leading to a resumption in infrastructure construction.

According to statistics from the China Construction Machinery Industry Association on the main excavator manufacturing enterprises, a total of 14,647 excavators of all kinds were sold in August 2024, representing an 11.8% year-on-year growth. Among these, 6,694 were sold domestically, showing an 18.1% year-on-year increase, while 7,953 were exported, indicating a 6.95% year-on-year growth. 'After a gap of 14 months, the year-on-year growth rate of excavator exports has once again turned positive, with actual sales data outperforming previous forecasts,' said experts from Founder Securities.

Institutions predict that domestic investment in downstream infrastructure will continue to improve. With the continuous advancement of large-scale equipment renewal, the excavator market is expected to gradually emerge from the cyclical trough.

Companies related to construction machinery include:

Zoomlion (01157), Lonking (03339), First Tractor (00038), Sany Int'l (00631), Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group (00564), Sinotruk (03808), Weichai Power (02338), etc.