The total global export of all elevators, escalators, and components has remained constant around the 18 to 20 billion dollar mark over the last five years. And a probable dip might have been seen in 2020 owing to the pandemic and other related factors. However, in 2019 the total export of elevators took around 6.4 million dollars, with the total export of escalators and moving walkways comprising of about 745 million dollars. China was the leading exporter of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. This could be mainly attributed to the fact that major players have their factories in China.
The leading exporters of elevators include Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and Italy, while Slovakia, Spain, and the Czech Republic lead the escalator market exports. India amounts to 0.2 percent of the total global export of elevators and a minute 0.1 percent of global exports of escalators of the total trade. But, it accounts for 2 to 4 percent of the total imports of elevators and escalators. And, this is the gap that creates a lot of opportunities for the industry.
The export of elevator and escalators components happens through two HS codes, 843131 and 843139. But primarily to the HS code 3131, the total export was around 4.8 million dollars, and through the HS code 843139, it was about 8.4 million dollars. China continues to be the leading supplier of components through 843131, followed by Italy, Spain, Germany and UK. India accounts for 0.2 percentage of total exports through 3131 and 1.2 of the percentage the exports through 843139. This shows that we have a good potential in terms of tapping the global market because we are now accounting for a minor percentage, and we have immense potential to tap the international markets.
The universal truth is that India continues to be an importer of elevator and escalator components. India accounted for 2 percent of the total inputs through 843131 and 843139.
The main intention of our detailed analysis of trade databases is to give a flavor of the magnitude rather than giving you precise numbers. So in 2019, the total imports observed through all the 4 HS codes that we tracked for the elevator industry was around 343 million dollars. This has seen a marginal difference from the 2018 numbers of 343 million dollars. The number includes all the elevators, escalators, moving walkways and the components related to them. During 2019 around 200 million dollars’ worth of elevator and escalators components were imported to India, with China accounting for 73 percent of the supply. Some of the other countries include Spain and Italy that showed their dominance.
Analyzing based on the product decryption, there are six major categories, clubbed with other components such as bearing couplers and counterweights. Various other products accounted for a maximum of 33 percent, followed by the ropes and shaft equipment which accounted for 22 percent of the total imports of the 200 million dollars in 2019.
Going onto the export side of the business in India, it is at its low of about 59 million dollars compared to the imports. But, it has seen an increase from 2018, where the total exports of E&E components accounted for 44 million dollars. In 2019 similar analyses of the exports of elevator and escalator components showed that we export around 22 million dollars worth of components to major destinations, including Canada, Netherlands, Qatar, United Kingdom, and Brazil.
To conclude, there is still immense potential for Indian manufacturers to tap the global demand gap as the total export of the elevators and escalator components is around 14 billion dollars. Indian can surely tap a significant portion of it – contributing greatly to the growth of the E&E industry.
