Earthmoving firm seals Chinese franchise

Staff Writer | Friday April 23, 2010 00:00

Parts Sales Botswana has already sold seven Shantui units since the beginning of the year, demonstrating the Chinese brand's competitiveness in the local market. From its beginnings 30 years ago, Shantui has grown rapidly, establishing equity and technology arrangements with industry giants such as Komatsu and Caterpillar, while simultaneously saturating the domestic Chinese market. With the Chinese market conquered, Shantui has been able to aggressively drive exports, with units worth P228 million sold by 2008.

The Shantui bulldozer is the number one selling dozer in China (with a 58 percent market share) and the third-largest dozer manufacturer worldwide. The Shantui brand has a superior reputation in the international market and holds 66.4 percent of total bulldozer exports from China.

With 25 years on the local market, Parts Sales Botswana is also a distributor for Atlas Copco and Dynapac, global leaders in earthmoving and compaction machinery.

Parts Sales Botswana partners, Mike Denbury and Jaap Storm travelled to China last year, touring several earthmoving manufacturers, before sealing a franchise agreement for Botswana from Shantui.

Officially launching the partnership last Friday, Parts Sales Botswana Managing Director, Denbury, said perceptions had changed over the years about the quality and effectiveness of Chinese-made equipment. He said Chinese-made machines were competitively priced against their Western rivals, making good business sense in economies emerging from the recession.

'Part of the reason for the change in perception of Chinese products is that the price is so much cheaper. If a product is sold at half the price its competitors are selling it at, you would think there's something wrong with it.

'The cost of labour is a huge saving. In addition, none of the Shantui brands has fancy electronics or one-touch buttons. The good thing about this is that when you are stuck in Gumare, you don't need to order an electrician from Johannesburg armed with a laptop. These machines are simple.

'The Shantui products are high quality, market- tested products which are offered at extremely competitive, value-for-money prices, requirements of the Botswana market, and will go beyond all expectations,' he said.In addition, Denbury pointed out that China is among only few countries whose currencies are almost at par with the Pula. The MD added that Shantui was among the 'most forward-thinking' companies they encountered during the China trip last year.

'Shantui used to have an agency in South Africa and when we visited, they were planning to set up their own office in South Africa, which they have since done. That office has imported its own machines and set up a bond for spare parts, which makes our job easier,' said Denbury.

Denbury said while there are more than 40 Shantui bulldozers currently operating in Botswana, Parts Sales Botswana will be offering wheel loaders, excavators, motor graders and all undercarriage parts.

'The vision of Parts Sales Botswana is to make Shantui a top-of-mind brand when considering construction equipment in Botswana and we will continue to strive to provide customers with proper parts backup and technical expertise, supporting them throughout the lifespan of their equipment,' said Denbury.