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Chinese group with an annual revenue of US$ 10 billion bets on Brazil as a strategic platform for expansion in the Latin American agribusiness, with plans to start local assembly and build a factory in the country within four years to strengthen its presence with Brazilian rural producers.
Zoomlion, a Chinese conglomerate with a global revenue of US$ 10 billion and publicly traded on the Chinese stock exchange, is advancing with an ambitious strategy to expand in the Brazilian agricultural machinery market, including concrete plans to start local assembly operations and build a factory in Brazil within an estimated timeframe of four years.
The company has been present in Brazil for a decade through its line of construction machinery, with a factory already established in Indaiatuba (SP), but its entry into the national agricultural market occurred in 2025, with the presentation of its line of tractors and harvesters to rural producers at events like the Show Rural Coopavel, in Paraná.
At Agrishow 2025, held in Ribeirão Preto (SP), Zoomlion participated for the first time as an exhibitor in the agricultural segment, presenting a varied line of tractors with power ranging from 75 to 350 horsepower, including what the company classifies as the first hybrid tractor of this category in Brazil and the largest hybrid of its kind in the world.
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The standout hybrid model presented in Ribeirão Preto has 350 horsepower and can operate with both diesel and electricity, but the manufacturer claims to already have in its global portfolio hybrids of up to 700 horsepower, demonstrating a technological capability that goes beyond what is initially being presented to the Brazilian market.
Sherry Bao, director of agricultural machinery for Latin America, and Huang Wei Zhe, head of agricultural machinery for Brazil based in Indaiatuba, acknowledge that the first year of agricultural operation in the country was challenging, with a revenue of R$ 100 million in 2025, below the company’s initial expectations for this period of entry into the national market.
“The first year is always difficult because there are many competitors already established for many years, but we have already found very good partners and in several regions we already have distributors who are helping to bring our machines to producers,” said Sherry Bao, highlighting that the learning from the initial period was fundamental to adjust the company’s commercial strategy in the country.
Tropicalization and technical adjustments for the Brazilian field
One of the main lessons learned by Zoomlion in its first year in the Brazilian agricultural market was the need to adapt its machines to the specific conditions of the national fields, a process the company internally calls tropicalization, involving adjustments such as wheel calibration and adaptation of harvesting platforms to Brazil’s crops and terrains.
“We brought some models, tested them in various regions and cities in Brazil precisely to understand how to adapt the machines to the Brazilian market; for example, the harvester here today is already different from the first unit we brought to Brazil, with adjustments made from tests in different producing regions,” revealed the company’s Brazilian head during the exclusive interview given to AgFeed.
Despite the difficulties of the first year, the scenario begins to improve in 2026, with revenue already reaching R$ 300 million in the analyzed period and a prospect of closing the year with at least R$ 500 million in sales, a significant leap compared to the R$ 100 million obtained in the previous year, demonstrating acceleration in brand acceptance among rural producers.
To counter the main argument of traditional competitors — the concern with maintenance difficulties and replacement of parts for machines of Chinese origin —, Zoomlion is building a large parts distribution center in Indaiatuba and negotiating the start of a CKD operation, which involves local assembly of equipment from kits imported from China.
“This is the biggest fear of those who buy imported products: being without a part and waiting 60 days; this will not happen,” assured Huang Wei Zhe, highlighting that Zoomlion’s investment in after-sales infrastructure is a central competitive advantage to gain the trust of Brazilian rural producers, especially in a segment where the availability of technical support is crucial in the purchasing decision.
Factory in Brazil and expansion of the distribution network
The most ambitious step of Zoomlion in Brazil is the construction of a factory aimed at the agricultural segment, expected to be set up within four years in one of the three states that have already received company representatives for preliminary talks: Goiás, Minas Gerais, or Santa Catarina, although a final decision on the location of the unit has not yet been made.
“Our plan is to have a factory located within four years; we cannot disclose investment values yet, but we will invest heavily because we know Brazil is a huge market and, to operate here in the long term, local production is essential,” indicated director Sherry Bao, detailing the company’s long-term strategy for the Brazilian agribusiness.
The new unit will be structured in three phases, with the first stage anticipating the production of approximately 1,000 units per year, a number that tends to grow as the brand consolidates in the market and the installed capacity expands in the following phases, according to the plan presented by the executives during the exclusive interview given to AgFeed at Agrishow.
Currently, Zoomlion has 10 economic partner groups in Brazil, each operating with two or more stores, and aims to reach a network of 50 distributors by the end of 2026, expanding its commercial reach and ability to serve rural producers in different regions of the country with products and technical support suited to the demands of the field.
The company also claims to have the capacity to serve from small producers to large agricultural operations, citing as an example a potential client who cultivates about 120 thousand hectares, in addition to mentioning a producer who has already tested their equipment on farms of approximately 28 thousand hectares in the Unaí region and in Western Bahia, demonstrating the versatility of the portfolio for different scales of operation.
Regarding the geopolitical scenario and its effects, executive Sherry Bao stated that the company was less affected than might be expected, with impacts concentrated mainly on international logistics costs, while the company’s factories in China continue to operate normally, as most of the raw materials and components used in production are obtained within the country itself.
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