APEX Asia opens as export drives activity

The 5th APEX Asia exhibition opened today in Shanghai, China, with busy aisles and high advance registration numbers belying the difficult business environment for the aerial platform sector in China.

Although recent market conditions for AWP rental specialists in China have been difficult – with domestic sales down significantly – manufacturers continue to innovate and see pockets of opportunity.

The ailes are busy at Apex Asia 2025.

Local AWP OEM, Hered, said its aim at the show is to attract rental customers from export markets, including South East Asia and specifically Vietnam, which is seeing growth thanks to government investment in major infrastructure projects.

Eric Wang, vice general manager at Hered, said a number of potential customers from the region were visiting the show, along with others from India and the Middle East. “We are here to find sales in markets outside China. But we have seen growth in the China market – we have built good relations with smaller rental companies over the last four years.”

The company sold 5,000 units in 2024 and this year aims to increase that by 200 units, thanks to its focus on the smaller rental operators in China.

The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) is also seeing greater engagement with MEWP training in China. Tim Mo, IPAF’s regional manager for China, said; “Our membership in China has grown from 65 to 80 companies over the past year, and there is growing interest in MEWP training for safety.”

The slower Chinese economy has spurred greater interest in equipment rental more widely as a concept, according to Karin Sun, director of research in China for Off-Highway Research.

“Overall, there is an increased acceptance of the rental concept, in every product category”, Sun told IRN. “Even in products like wide-body trucks. That used to be a 100% owned product, and now we are seeing rental.”

In the excavator market, for example, China saw a 10,000 increase in sales last year, and Sun estimates that 30 to 40% of that went direct to rental companies.

“We are seeing more interest in rental of compact machines, including mini-excavators. Companies getting involved in rental include dealers, direct from OEMs and also used equipment brokers, who are also becoming active in rental.”

She said economic uncertainty, concerns over payment by clients, and reducing prices of new machines was leading more users to rent rather than buy.

The diversification of the rental sector into wider product ranges is also being seen to some degree in the OEMs. LGMG, one of the most active Chinese AWP OEMs, for example, used APEX Asia to show not just its aerial platforms but also a wide range of new forklift trucks, spanning battery operated machines for global markets and several rough terrain forklifts.

A spokesperson for LGMG said the diesel powered forklift models were already available for export to markets including the Netherlands and Australia, with availability of the battery powered models likely next year.