Which “Largest” Excavator Market Is Right for You?
You might be wondering which market is actually the largest used excavator market in China.
It seems like many different regions all claim that their local market is the biggest in the country.
Let me sort this out for you, so you can have a clear overall picture.
First, let’s talk about geography.
China is a very large country, with long distances between major cities, and transporting heavy equipment is expensive.
If all used excavators were concentrated in one city, like Shanghai, transportation costs would be extremely high for buyers from other regions.
For example, from Shanghai to Beijing is over 1,000 kilometers.
From Shanghai to Xinjiang, it’s more than 3,000 kilometers.
Because of this geographic reality, used excavator markets in China are naturally region-based rather than centralized.
At the moment, the major regional markets are mainly located in Hebei, Shanghai, Anhui, and Guangdong.
Now let’s talk about the largest closed-management excavator market in China:
the Hefei Sishu Bridge Excavator Market.
This market is located in Changfeng District, Hefei City.
Interestingly, it doesn’t have an official name.
Because it doesn’t fully meet local environmental policies, the operators avoid formally naming it.
I call it the “Sishu Bridge Market” simply because it is only about 200 meters from the Sishu Bridge landmark on the national highway.
The Hefei Sishu Bridge Market is the main used excavator trading center in east China.
Owners from the Yaohai area and the Feidong area of Hefei all sell their machines here.
What people call the “Yaohai Market” or the “Feidong Market” is actually just a virtual concept.
These are dozens of small companies scattered across those districts, not a single centralized market with unified management.
Yaohai and Feidong are simply two administrative districts of Hefei.
The Sishu Bridge market itself can park around 600 machines, making it the largest centralized used excavator yard in east China.
Dozens of companies operate inside the market year-round, and hundreds more do business within the surrounding area.
Buyers come from all over the world.
If you search for used excavators on YouTube, TikTok, or Facebook, you’ll easily recognize the building with solar panels on its rooftop.
That’s the landmark of this market.
I personally lived there for more than six months.
Besides selling excavators, I also helped local companies set up live-streaming networks and taught them how to operate TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook accounts.
So it’s very likely that at least one out of every five used excavator videos you see online comes from this place.
However, overall English proficiency there is quite low.
There is a big difference in English education between Hefei and Shanghai.
That’s why most videos from this market have no voice explanation, only footage.
The salespeople simply don’t speak English.
In my experience, fewer than five salespeople there can communicate even basic English.
If you are a used equipment broker from an English-speaking country, this market could actually be a great opportunity for you.
People there are not good at communication, especially with overseas buyers.
They don’t know how to deal with international clients; they only know how to keep posting short videos.
Starting a business there is surprisingly simple.
You just need to find one company, build a partnership with the owner, and have them help you get access authorization.
Once you do that, the entire market is open to you.
You can get first-tier pricing and share profits directly with the owner, instead of earning only small commissions like regular sales staff.
The reason is simple.
You bring your own customers and sales channels, while local salespeople rely entirely on the boss’s platform.
Although the Sishu Bridge market itself can only hold about 600 machines, within a 50-kilometer radius there are over a thousand companies doing business around it.
Due to cost and environmental reasons, not all machines are parked inside the market.
Many are stored in nearby villages or along roadsides and can be brought in whenever needed.
I only have two complaints about this market.
First, the toilets are very primitive and very dirty.
Second, except for drinks, almost all the food there is extremely salty.
Now let’s move on to the largest open-air excavator market in China:
the Shenzhen Bao’an Phoenix Construction Machinery Market.
This market is close to Hong Kong, which gives it a logistics advantage for Southeast Asia.
It’s located along National Highway 107 in Fuyong Town, Bao’an District, Shenzhen, and is only a five-minute drive from Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport.
The market covers about 330 acres of land and has more than 100 shops.
It originated in the 1990s during Shenzhen’s infrastructure boom.
After 1998, used construction equipment began flowing in from Hong Kong, and a trading market gradually formed.
In addition to excavators, the market also trades bulldozers and other construction machinery, offering buying, selling, rental, and repair services all in one place.
When I visited a few years ago, it was very prosperous.
I’m not sure if it’s still the same today.
You can check with others who have been there recently.
Compared with Anhui, Shenzhen has a huge geographic advantage.
It’s a migrant city with many people engaged in international trade, and their education level is generally higher.
As a result, they are much stronger in international marketing.
Many of them also set up companies in Hong Kong to facilitate international payments.
Because of the convenient location, some clients who originally planned to meet me ended up buying machines directly in Shenzhen and flying home.
Honestly, that always felt a bit frustrating.
Now let’s talk about the largest excavator dismantling and parts market in China:
the Xushui Excavator Market in Baoding, Hebei.
Xushui is the main used excavator trading center in northern China.
It was once famous for scrapped vehicle trading, but it has successfully transformed into a used construction machinery hub, especially for excavators.
The market integrates cleaning, testing, dismantling, assembly, commissioning, painting, and sales, offering a complete ecosystem.
In the 1990s, Xushui made money by buying scrapped vehicles, dismantling and refurbishing them, and reselling the parts.
In 2000, the government shut down the scrapped vehicle market.
Using their experience, nationwide sourcing networks, and technical skills, local businesses gradually shifted to used construction machinery.
At first, they mainly traded domestic excavators and homemade machines.
Later, imported brands, loaders, and cranes entered the market.
In 2011, a new centralized market was established, attracting a large number of merchants.
Today, the Xushui market stretches over more than ten kilometers, with over 500 merchants and tens of thousands of workers.
There are even more brokers involved.
The main products include excavators, loaders, cranes, and rollers, with imported Japanese excavators being the most common.
Machines are sold nationwide, including remote regions like Xinjiang and Tibet.
The core business in Xushui is dismantled parts.
Based on that, assembled excavators emerged—machines rebuilt from scratch.
This is why Xushui is sometimes known as a “fake machine” manufacturing center in China.
That said, if you have strong experience in excavator maintenance, Xushui can actually be very useful.
You can source original parts there and assemble machines yourself.
Before assembly, the parts are in their raw condition, without cleaning or repainting, so you can visually judge their quality.
For example, you can clearly see whether the boom or stick has been welded or repaired.
The Xushui market attracts buyers from both China and abroad.
Its strengths are low prices, complete supporting services, convenient transportation, and transparent information.
Overall, Xushui is ideal for experienced buyers with limited budgets.
Many buyers from Central Asia and South Asia regularly source machines there.
Finally, let me briefly talk about the market closest to me: Shanghai.
Shanghai once had the largest complete-machine excavator market in China, but that is now history.
After 2019, due to environmental regulations, the largest market was dismantled and relocated.
In fact, the Hefei Sishu Bridge market originated from Shanghai.
Today, Shanghai’s used excavator market is fragmented and scattered across different districts.
If you buy equipment in Shanghai, it’s very likely to come from one of these locations.
I've put their addresses in the description.
Right next to Shanghai is the Kunshan Qizhou Used Excavator Market in Jiangsu.
Kunshan is often called “Little Shanghai,” and it’s another important nearby option.
Before I finish, let me also mention a major used industrial equipment market:
the Liangshan Used Equipment Market in Shandong.
This is the largest used industrial equipment hub in northern China.
It hosts over 400 merchants and covers a wide range of industries, including chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and feed processing.
Prices are usually 30 to 50 percent of new equipment, and refurbishment can be customized.
The trading process is relatively standardized, from inspection and negotiation to contract signing and delivery.
If you’re in the used industrial equipment business, it’s definitely worth visiting.
That’s all for today.
I’m Mike Phua.
Subscribe me, and I’ll help you understand China’s used excavator market.
Thanks for watching.
- 3539a Jingdong Road, Minhang District, Shanghai
- 189-199 Duhui Road, Minhang District, Shanghai
- 228 Minhang Industrial Park, Minhang District, Shanghai
- Intersection of Hongmei South Road and Yuanjiang Road, Minhang District, Shanghai
- 1111 Songhua Road, Qingpu District, Shanghai
- 6598 Songze Avenue, Qingpu District, Shanghai
- 1600 Songfu Road, Qingpu District, Shanghai
- 688 Longcao Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
- No. 76, Lane 666, Xialing Road, Jinshan District, Shanghai
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- Lane 1881, Daye Highway, Fengxian District, Shanghai