YTO reaps global harvest

A shipment of 100 YTO tractors ready to be transported to Zimbabwe from the Tianjin port. File photo

This month, YTO is expected to deliver the last batch of 1,000 large-wheel tractors to Zimbabwe, the biggest export deal of large-wheel tractors.

The Zimbabwean contract vindicates the Chinese firm's confidence in the African market.

In spring, YTO exported 1,000 machines like tractors, rollers, trailers and power generators to Angola.

YTO's sales from Africa already account for 20 percent of the company's total from overseas markets, which stood at $50 million last year.

The company will also establish an agricultural machinery company in an eastern African country to take the total in Africa to four, with the others in Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and Algeria.

"We have decided that cooperation with African countries will be the important development target from 2010 to 2015 and we intend to turn Africa into the largest market for itself," said the company in a statement.

Localization is key

Localization has been a key to its progress in Africa.

In 1992, it developed the first farm machinery sales agent in Abidjan, capital of Cote d'Ivoire, and six years later, it expanded the relationship with the local market with an assembly plant, which has become a supply base for the whole continent.

The factory now produces 1,000 units of agricultural machines.

The agricultural conditions in China and Africa are very different, so local development is critical to win customers.

In July 1998, after the establishment of the assembly plant in Cote d'Ivoire, YTO Group set up a trading company in Cameroon, but its function goes well beyond that.

The company has improved its agricultural machinery in light of local conditions and made timely technological renovations according to customer demands.

Three generations of new products have been launched, with the number of product types now crossing 50.

While many Chinese companies try to expand overseas markets through lower prices, YTO believes service is more important.

The company's management philosophy is "service first, marketing second; parts first, machines second".

Guided by this principle, service staff always go to the site before the arrival of the products.

Not just machinery major graduates, YTO has recruited many university graduates with degrees in foreign languages, international trade or economics. Recently they completed training for more than 50 employees as back-up managers for international services.

More regions

The success in Africa has encouraged the Chinese tractor maker to expand to other regions.

This year, the company will set up six parts distribution centers in Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Ukraine and Inner Mongolia, to target Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Western Europe, and Russia respectively. It also established two assembly plants in Turkey and Poland for the Middle East and the European markets.

YTO this year shipped 900 large-wheel tractors to Venezuela, 1,200 tractors to Kyrgyzstan and 350 tractors to Mongolia.

This month, almost 100 dealers from 50 countries will come to an international business conference in Luoyang to discuss how YTO can further tap the overseas markets.

It will participate in 26 international shows this year to expand customer networks and plans to encourage its distributors to place more advertisements.

Last year, YTO sold 3,000 units of various kinds of machinery to foreign customers, more than doubling the number in 2005. Its total revenue in 2006 stood at 10 billion yuan.

(China Daily 10/15/2007 page15)