Bearing, a critical component for contemporary mechanical equipment, finds wide applications in automobile, electromechanics, construction machinery, household appliances, metallurgy and mining machinery, etc.
In 2014, global bearing market size reached USD68 billion, with Asia accounting for 45%, Europe 28% and the Americas 25%. In particular, the Asian bearing market is mainly concentrated in Japan, India and China.
As one of major bearing producers in the world, China produced 20.2 billion sets of bearings in 2014, rising by 3.1% from a year earlier, of which rolling bearing held the lion’s share (92.6%). China’s bearing output is expected to arrive at 21.5 billion sets in 2015.
Currently, automobile is the largest application market for bearing in China. The country’s demand for automotive bearing was 1.2 billion sets in 2014, and is expected to grow to 1.3 billion sets in 2015. Besides the demand from automobile, accelerated railway construction in China also stimulates the demand for railway bearing, which approximated 5.61 million sets in 2014 and is predicted to reach 5.87 million sets in 2015.
In 2014, global top10 manufacturers included two European companies (Swedish SKF, German Schaeffler), one American firm (TIMKEN), four Japanese players (NSK, NTN, Minebea, Nachi), and three Chinese ones (C&U Group, Wafangdian Bearing Group, Luoyang LYC Bearing). Major foreign bearing producers including SKF, NSK, and NTN now have entered China.
SKF: The company is the world's largest bearing manufacturer; it seized a 12.4% global market share in 2014; it has five bearing production bases in China (separately located in Shanghai, Beijing, Dalian, Jinan, and Pinghu). The company signed S2M magnetic bearings supply contract with Shenyang Blower Works Group (SBW) in Dec 2014, and won SEK150 million worth of bearing supply order from Chongqing Gearbox Co., Ltd. in Jan 2015, thus boosting its share in the Chinese wind power gearbox market.
Schaeffler: The company made revenue of EUR1.54 billion, or 12.7% of total revenue, from the Greater China region in 2014. The truck hub bearing production lines in Nanjing production base are under construction as planned in 2015, and is expected to go into production at the end of the year, delivering a capacity of 500,000 sets/a.
C&U Group: The company, with capacity of 810 million sets/a, surpassed Wafangdian Bearing Group for the first time as China’s the largest bearing manufacturer in terms of market share in 2014. “60 million sets/a high-efficiency and precision industrial bearing project” with an investment of RMB500 million in Wuhu production base officially went into operation in December 2014.
Wafangdian Bearing Group: The company is a major wind power bearing manufacturer, and has been intensifying its efforts in R&D of high-end wind power bearing in recent years. FL-249/750CA/W33 wind power spindle bearing developed by the company got GL-A certificate (the first in China) in Jun 2015, thus wining the access to the EU market.
Luoyang Bearing Science & Technology: The company invested RMB160 million to construct “high-speed precision heavy-duty bearing industrialization demonstration line project” in May 2014. Products are mainly high-speed railway bearings, urban rail vehicle bearings, and locomotive and transmission bearings. The project was completed and went into production in Jun 2015, adding capacity of 60,000 sets/a tapered roller bearings.
