The Trend for Chinese Sensor Market in 2013
With the development of science and technology, Internet of Things has become one of the strategic high ground for a new round of economic and technological development in current world, so developing the Internet of Things shows important practical significance for the promotion of economic development and social progress. Sensor, as the perceived front-end of the Internet of Things, plays an important role in the development of Internet of Things.
Sensor is the base product in the electronic information equipment manufacturing, and is the special components among the prioritized new electronic components. Sensor industry, as a promising high-tech industry recognized by all over the world, is increasingly gain traction for the high technological content, good economic returns, strong penetration ability and broad market prospects. Driven by the vigorous development of electronic information industry, China’s sensor has formed certain industrial base, and has made significant progress in technological innovation, independent research and development, achievements transformation and competitiveness, contributing a lot to the development of China’s national economy.
In recent years, China’s sensor market has continued to grow with growth rate exceeding 15%. Industrial process control, automotive electronics, communications, electronics and consumer electronics are the four major application areas, where industrial and automotive electronic products account for about 42% of market shares. From January to March in 2012, boosted by the industrial development of the Internet of Things, the market size of sensor in China reached CNY 17.21 billion, a year-over-year increase of 23.3%. Based on China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s total production quantity of various types of sensors is 1.17 billion in January to March of 2012, up by 13.7% from 2011. In terms of import and export, the General Administration of Customs data shows the import volume sees year-on-year growth of about 40% by March of 2012; but the exports is not optimistic, with growth rate slowing down (excluding South Korea); in particularly, the export to Europe declined the most.
Most enterprises in the first half of 2012 suffered market decline; the situation in the second half is better with sales picking up, so overall, the whole year saw growth.
In the end of 2012, sensitive components and sensors department, a branch of China Electronic Components Association asked the members about the current situation and focus questions through adopting a variety of ways, the member companies generally said, despite the better domestic economic situation, due to affected by the international economic downturn, domestic enterprises also were hit, resulting in that market decline occurred in most enterprises in the first half of 2012 and the export business was severely affected. In particularly, small and medium-sized enterprises face a heavy tax burden, a surge in manpower costs, financial cost increase and other problems, leading to a very difficult situation. The second half of 2012 shows better situation with sales rebound and a slight growth for the whole year.
But each enterprise shows different situation. Although the member company of Huagong Xingaoli focuses on the export market, which will be greatly affected by international situation, the overall revenue remained growth due to the situation beginning to improve in the second half of 2012. Zhengzhou Winsen Technology Corp is the major manufacturer of gas sensors in China; despite the unfavorable export environment, it still maintained the growth momentum of performance; Hanzhou Multi IR Optoelectronics Co with infrared filter and analyzer as based products also saw the substantial increase in performance due to the technological advantage, albeit the influence from the relocation of company address. And it shows full confidence to future and is projected to achieve double growth in sales in the new year; Shandong Chenkun Group invested a lot to technology research and development and will enter the field of Internet of Things. In 2012, this company has got good achievement in intelligent oil field, water conservancy, agriculture and other fields. Guangxi New Future Information Industry Co, a main manufacturer for varistor chip and zinc oxide varistors in China, increased revenue in 2012 and remain optimistic about the 2013 production and operation situation.
Overall, the majority of enterprises in 2012 remains revenue growth or sees flat turnover, and highlights sensitive element and the sensor industry, believing this industry has broad outlook, huge development potential, national policy support and other advantages. Of course, there is part of enterprises showing not-as-expect performance, even presenting decline.