Jinan, October 23 — On October 23, the 36th Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2026, co-hosted by Foundry-Suppliers.Com (FSC) and Suppliers China Co., Ltd. (SC), drew to a distinguished close at Crowne Plaza Jinan Runhua. Rooted in the precise, targeted cross-border casting procurement matchmaking, this landmark assembly convened professional purchasers from Russia, Poland, Italy and a host of other nations, alongside leading representatives of China’s core casting production capacities. It fostered pragmatic, in-depth deliberations on mid-to-high-end casting project alignment and deep supply chain collaboration, infusing transformative, enduring impetus into the synergistic advancement of the global foundry ecosystem.

Global Procurement Surge: China’s Supply Chain Steadfastness as the Defining Magnet

The conference welcomed a distinguished cohort of overseas delegates who traveled across continents from Russia, Poland, Italy, Japan, Mongolia and beyond, alongside procurement teams from multinational corporations’ China-based purchasing hubs and leading domestic industry enterprises. Export-oriented orders accounted for over 70 percent of all procurement intentions articulated at the event. Four multinational entities — Coberg Sp. z o.o. from Poland, Новый мир from Russia, Chiglel LLC from Mongolia, and Accelleron Turbo Systems— sequentially convened exclusive, dedicated procurement briefings, where they delineated their casting procurement portfolios and formal supplier admission protocols with meticulous granularity.

The Russian procurement delegation, who embarked on this China visit exclusively for the conference, affirmed on-site that at this juncture, Chinese suppliers stand as the sole partners capable of meeting their exacting high-end casting specifications while delivering unwavering, long-term stable production and delivery performance. The aggregate value of this round of Russian procurement approximates 70 million RMB. Leveraging the organizing committee’s pre-conference business matchmaking services, launched 30 days ahead of the event, the purchasers had already completed preliminary alignment with multiple prospective suppliers before their arrival in Jinan. Following immersive, face-to-face negotiations during the conference, the delegation has preliminarily secured two formal cooperative suppliers, elevating the overall efficiency of procurement implementation to unprecedented heights.

An Italian procurement representative revealed that their enterprise’s current annual casting procurement footprint in China has reached 300 million RMB. The product quality and delivery consistency upheld by Chinese suppliers have fully met the exacting performance benchmarks set by their European headquarters, prompting European leadership to formally resolve that from 2027 onwards, all new projects will designate China as their exclusive procurement destination, while established legacy casting orders will be transferred to China in phased, structured batches. A German agricultural machinery manufacturing enterprise also acknowledged candidly that previously, their casting procurement in China was confined to a narrow, fractional scope, with the vast majority of orders retained within European domestic markets. However, persistently escalating casting production costs have directly eroded the market competitiveness of their end products, leading to sustained contraction of their market share in recent years. Consequently, the group’s headquarters has now formulated a definitive strategic roadmap to substantially raise the proportion of their casting procurement allocated to China.

Per official insights released by conference organizer FSC, European purchasers can attain a minimum cost reduction of over 30 percent on comprehensive expenditure when sourcing castings from China, compared to procuring equivalent products within their domestic markets, granting Chinese suppliers a singular, preeminent competitive edge in cost performance. Amid the current broader landscape of subdued global economic momentum, the unique, definitive advantages of China’s foundry industry have been further amplified: China’s total annual casting output has claimed the top global rank for 25 consecutive years, accounting for approximately 45 percent of the world’s total production volume. The nation’s highly integrated, end-to-end full-industry-chain support system, progressively open market environment, and continuously advancing technological and compliance capabilities have collectively driven global buyers’ reliance on China’s supply chain to rise rather than recede, with demand for deep, high-end collaboration climbing steadily.

Convergence of Premier Capacities and Industry Acumen: Unleashing the Full Splendour of Local Industrial Strength

This year’s conference gathered a stellar roster of China’s leading casting manufacturers, including FAW Foundry Co., Ltd., Guangxi Yuchai Casting Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Fuling Auto Parts Co., Ltd., Taiyuan Heavy Industry Co.,Ltd., Chengdu Xiling Power Parts Co., Ltd., and Jiangsu ZCA Precision Casting Tech. Co.,Ltd. The participating enterprises embody premium production capacities spanning China’s core casting industrial belts, with process expertise covering the full spectrum of casting categories: sand casting, investment casting, die casting and special casting. Their product portfolios serve a diverse array of high-end manufacturing sectors, encompassing automotive, engineering machinery, energy equipment, rail transit and a multitude of other critical industrial domains.

Senior Director Darren Chen from FAW Foundry Co., Ltd. delivered a keynote presentation titled “Forging & Casting with Craftsmanship, Connecting the Globe”. He detailed that as a wholly-owned subsidiary of FAW Group, FAW Foundry has established a nationwide industrial layout of "five principal locations with twelve production facilities" across Changchun, Chengdu, Wuxi, Tianjin and Qingdao. The company operates 23 state-of-the-art casting production lines, 53 die-casting cells, 16 forging lines, 15 heat treatment lines and 17 machining lines, with an annual production capacity exceeding 500,000 tons of diverse cast and forged components. As one of China’s largest and most comprehensively competitive leading enterprises specializing in core automotive cast and forged components, its formidable R&D prowess and large-scale advanced manufacturing capabilities garnered widespread, profound attention from every attending multinational procurement delegation.

To facilitate global buyers’ in-depth exploration of high-quality local casting resources in Shandong Province, the conference specially invited Secretary-General Jason Zhang from the Shandong Foundry Association to deliver a thematic presentation titled “Overview of the Foundry Industry in Shandong Province”. His address systematically unpacked the core competitive advantages of Shandong’s foundry sector, mapped the distribution of its distinctive industrial parks, and interpreted the latest supportive industrial policies, offering clear, actionable guidance for global purchasers seeking to connect with local Shandong-based suppliers.

Associate Professor Xiaohang Lin from the School of Materials Science & Engineering, Shandong University, delivered a presentation themed “From Experience-Driven to AI Decision-Making: A New Pathway for AI Optimization of Casting Processes”. He shared pragmatic, actionable solutions that harness artificial intelligence technology to elevate casting process optimization, which can drastically shorten new product R&D cycles for manufacturing enterprises and substantially boost process development efficiency, presenting a groundbreaking, visionary framework for the intelligent transformation of the entire foundry industry.

The FSC Platform’s Evolving Excellence: Building the Central Nexus for Global Industrial Interconnection

Wang Longhe, Founder of the Global Foundry Sourcing Conference, emphasized in his keynote address that competition within the global foundry industry over the coming decade is, at its core, a dynamic contest of collaboration and innovation anchored in China’s supply chain. The foundational competitive logic of the global foundry sector has now undergone a fundamental, irreversible shift toward "deep integration with China’s industrial prowess." To date, the Global Foundry Sourcing Conference has established a mature, stable operational model of two annual sessions: the spring conference is permanently hosted in Shanghai each April, while the autumn conference tours across key cities nestled within China’s core casting industrial belts. The event has cumulatively served more than 120 Fortune Global 500-caliber procurement entities. Over the past two years, the platform has continuously refined and upgraded its service capabilities, successfully completing the registration of multiple trademarks across 13 product categories for its core brands, including SC, FSC, erecting a robust bulwark for intellectual property protection. The platform’s online AI-powered intelligent supply-demand matching system has also undergone comprehensive optimization and enhancement. Drawing on its extensive, decades-curated big database of Chinese casting suppliers, the volume of buyer connection requests received by the platform has surged 60 percent year-on-year, while the overall efficiency of supply-demand matchmaking has nearly doubled.

The conference organizing committee formally announced that the 37th Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2027 is scheduled to convene at Shanghai Everbright International Hotel on April 23, 2027. The upcoming event will welcome an even broader cohort of professional purchasers from every corner of the globe, delivering an even more robust, resilient hub of support for Chinese casting enterprises to connect with high-value international orders.

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