Exports of Chinese cranes are flooding into some Latin American countries, suggesting active expansion in construction activities under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and paving the way for diversification amid the looming trade war with the United States, analysts said.
Crane exports to Peru rose by nearly 132 per cent year on year in October, according to Chinese customs data, while total shipments of the machinery – which can be used to load and unload container ships – increased by nearly 76 per cent in the first 10 months of the year to US$143 million.
In May, China’s crane exports to Peru went up from less than US$100,000 a year earlier to over US$54 million, just as the Biden administration announced a punitive tariff of 25 per cent on imports of Chinese ship-to-shore cranes into the US.
“It is more likely that these cranes are for port construction,” said Liang Yan, an economist at Willamette University in the US state of Oregon.
“It is unlikely that US importers foresaw the tariff and ordered the cranes ahead of time to be delivered this year.”
Washington has alleged Chinese port cranes have been equipped with surveillance systems, with the new duties taking effect on September 27.
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