Can you introduce LiuGong to our readers? 

LiuGong boasts a comprehensive product portfolio, including earthmoving machinery, road equipment, industrial vehicles, mining equipment, piling machines, concrete equipment, hoisting machines and cranes, aerial work platforms, and agricultural machinery. We can safely call ourselves a full-liner, which differentiates us from competition.

Can you elaborate on LiuGong’s African footprint?  

We cover the entire area from Mauritania to DRC to Niger, including Ghana and Nigeria. Most of our business is done through our distribution network.

LiuGong South Africa Subsidiary is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was established in 2011 as a Subsidiary of LiuGong Machinery to support its network in the Saharan Africa Region. 

Liugong Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa was created in December 2022. It is our first company in a French-speaking country, and we aim to be closer to our distributors in French-speaking Africa and provide them with more day-to-day support.

LiuGong East Africa followed in 2023. A team of support engineers assists with after-sales, training and warranty applications to increase product efficiency and time management together with our dealers. LiuGong's Parts Distribution Centres in Johannesburg, Guinea, Ghana, and Kenya are the biggest assets for all our stakeholders.

What have been the growth drivers for LiuGong over the past year? 

Company's revenue was 27.52 billion yuan, an increase of 3.93% year over year. The company mainly focuses on earthmoving machinery, and loaders and excavators are its core products. Financial reports show that 2023 the company's gross margin for earthwork products was up 5.56 percentage points from the previous year. 
LiuGong has performed outstandingly in the African markets for the past four years.

Our top African markets include Nigeria, DRC, South Africa, Guinea, and Ghana. Our performance in the DRC is not yet up to our expectations in this vital market. We are working on this by redoubling our efforts and capacity to be present in this crucial market sustainably. Our market share in Ghana remains strong, and we continue to grow in Mali. Guinea, with the Simandou project, could also be an excellent opportunity for further growth.

We recently won a huge project in Ghana, where we sold more than 1,000 units to one customer—the biggest sale in the African industry in one batch—which will probably make us the Ghanaian market leader in 2025. 

What differentiates LiuGong in a competitive market? 

Western brands used to be the go-to option in Africa since they were the first to enter the markets, but today, Chinese brands are becoming more relevant. LiuGong is a proudly Chinese brand with top-tier components, including joint ventures with Cummins and ZF. 

In the past, supplier contracts in the mining space were three to five years, but today, contracts are signed for one year, and every year, you have to fight to keep the contract. Price and TCO have become primary considerations, and LiuGong prides itself on offering high-quality products at affordable prices, providing a unique value proposition. We are renowned for the durability of our equipment. Today, we are one of the few Chinese brands able to offer a rebuilt machine.

How do you observe the electrification trend in the mining industry?

LiuGong is also a leader in battery electric vehicles, with the largest fleet in this segment. China leads the trends in this segment. We have the world's largest 100% electric loader and the DR50E rigid truck, proving its worth on northern European quarries. We see increased demand from mining projects for electric equipment as operators focus on reducing their carbon footprint. Regarding electrically-powered equipment, Liu-Gong offers auxiliary mining equipment, specifically for coal mining, manganese mining, bauxite mining, copper mining, and gold mining; we see the electric space as a core driver for growth moving forward. 

Considering the energy transition and increased focus on critical minerals, what is your outlook for market demands moving forward? 

We are seeing increased demand for both lithium and graphite projects, especially in countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. In West Africa, we have won the bid at the San Pedro Port in the Ivory Coast, where all lithium coming from Mali goes through the San Pedro Port and is loaded onto ships with LiuGong products.