On November 23, CRIA released the statistics of China's industrial robot market in 2019. Data show that in 2019, although the sales volume of China's industrial robot market continued the downward trend of the previous year, the annual sales volume still ranked first in the world for the seventh consecutive year, and the sales of self-owned brand industrial robots achieved a small increase.
According to the statistics of CRIA and the International Federation of Robotics IFR, China’s industrial robot market sold 144,000 industrial robots in 2019, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6% (Note: IFR adjusted the number of the same period last year), a decrease of 7.7 percentage points from 2018. Among them, sales of foreign-branded robots were approximately 99,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 12.2%; sales of self-owned brand industrial robots were nearly 45,000 units, a slight increase of 0.8% year-on-year. Compared with 2018, although the sales growth rate of self-owned brand industrial robots has slowed down, it still maintains growth; the sales volume of foreign brand industrial robots has continued to decline and the decline has deepened. The proportion of self-owned brand industrial robots in the total market sales was 30.9%, an increase of 2.9% over the previous year.
From the perspective of mechanical structure, the sales of multi-joint robots in the Chinese market in 2019 still ranked first among all models, with annual sales of nearly 96,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%, which is the first year-on-year negative growth in sales since 2013; The sales of self-owned brand multi-joint robots maintained a good growth trend. The sales volume ranked first among all models for the third consecutive year. The annual cumulative sales of 24,000 units was a year-on-year increase of 24.5%; the market share of self-owned brand multi-joint robots rose to 25.4% , An increase of 5.5% over the previous year. After years of rapid growth, the sales of SCARA robots have declined, with annual sales of 27,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 18.9%. Among them, the sales of self-owned brand SCARA robots dropped by 15%. The sales of coordinate robots were nearly 14,000 units, continuing the downward trend of the previous year, and the rate of decline deepened to 22.1%. Among them, the sales of coordinate robots of independent brands dropped by 27.1% year-on-year. The sales of parallel robots increased significantly in 2019 against the trend, with an increase of 32%.
In the context of the overall market sales decline, the sales of the main application areas of industrial robots have declined to varying degrees. Handling and loading and unloading are the primary application areas. In 2019, 62,000 units were sold, a year-on-year decrease of 4.4%, and the proportion of total sales increased to 42.8%. Among them, the sales of independent brands decreased by 9.1%. The sales of welding and brazing robots were 34,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 16%; the sales of independent brands increased by 10.2%. Sales of assembly and disassembly robots were 20,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 16.7%. Robot sales in the processing field increased by 105.5% year-on-year, making it the only application field that achieved sales growth. In general, handling and welding are still the main application areas of industrial robots. The market share of independent brand robots in the fields of processing, welding and brazing, assembly and disassembly, clean room, coating and glue sealing has increased.
Based on the current market conditions and industry operating conditions, it is expected that in 2020, China’s industrial robot market sales will not continue the downward trend of the previous year, and is expected to achieve a certain degree of growth. Among them, the sales growth rate of self-owned brand industrial robots will be basically the same as the overall industry.
