The machine tool industry has recently shown a new positive trend, and one of the important signals comes from the product price increase behavior of enterprises in the industry. Following China's tungsten industry's 10% increase in some tool products at the beginning of the year, another important tool manufacturer, Okeyi, also issued a notice on the price increase of some of its products. This series of actions means that after a period of weak demand, the tool industry has re-ushered in the cycle of product excellence.
The reasons behind the price increase are manifold. First of all, since 2021, raw materials** have continued to maintain a high and stable state, which has put some pressure on the cost of the tool industry. From the perspective of short-term market demand, until January this year, the overall demand situation was relatively stable. On the one hand, this price adjustment measure is based on the strategic adjustment and product upgrade plan of the tool manufacturer itself, hoping to optimize the product structure by increasing the added value; On the other hand, as companies gradually digest inventory in 2023, they are optimistic about the market outlook for 2024, and market demand is expected to pick up, so they will make ** adjustments in advance to adapt to future market changes. In addition, in 2024, with the release of new production capacity and the further upgrading of product technology, the tool industry will seek new growth points in emerging fields such as the 3C (consumer electronics) industry and overseas market expansion.
At the same time, from the perspective of downstream demand in the machine tool industry, since the fourth quarter of 2023, the industry represented by the 3C industry has shown obvious signs of recovery, while the traditional packaging, textile machinery and injection molding machine industries have also shown a trend of marginal improvement. It is particularly noteworthy that in January last year, the demand for machine tools in the automotive industry initially showed a recovery momentum under the influence of the low base effect, indicating that the demand for machine tools market is structurally improving.
Looking ahead, the domestic manufacturing environment is in the stage of low inventory and the bottom of the PPI index, which creates favorable conditions for starting a new round of replenishment cycle. While the domestic manufacturing industry is repairing, the demand growth in overseas markets is still strong, and the export trend of machine tools and tools is expected to continue to maintain a rapid development trend. Combined with the analysis of the current valuation of the sector in the bottom area, the gradual stabilization of fundamentals and the bottoming out of market expectations, investors can be moderately optimistic about the development prospects of the industry.
In the short term, investors need to pay attention to several important factors: seasonal disruptions caused by the Spring Festival holiday, the disclosure of fourth-quarter results of various companies, and dynamic events such as the lifting of restricted shares and corporate buybacks, which may affect short-term market volatility and investment decisions.
Note: The data and opinions in this article are provided by the GF Machinery team and are for reference only.
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