Neighboring countries went from blocking exports agriculture drone to China to becoming a market for Chinese companies

In this epidemic prevention and control battle, drones have also become popular again. At present, drones have been widely used in transportation, surveying and mapping, film and television, leisure, plant protection and many other fields.

Chinese plant protection drones eyeing the Japanese market

In various application fields, agricultural plant protection is a high-profile commercialization scenario for drones. Driven by the dual dividends of policy and market, China's plant protection drone industry has developed rapidly, and many plant protection drone companies have turned their attention to foreign countries. Japan and my country are separated by a strip of water, facing each other across the sea, with similar geographical locations, as well as the practical conditions and historical accumulation of the application of plant protection drones, and have become the first choice for Chinese enterprises to go overseas.

Of course, another important reason is that Japan's population aging trend is becoming more and more prominent, and the agricultural labor force continues to decline, resulting in insufficient agricultural population and increasing demand for agricultural drones and intelligent equipment. On the other hand, the area of arable land in Japan is also shrinking, and it is imminent to increase agricultural output. Therefore, Japan has been vigorously promoting the process of agricultural modernization, and the use of automated machinery is more popular than my country, and the use of plant protection drones has also been used for a long time. However, the development of Japanese plant protection drone products is relatively slow, and it is no longer comparable to Chinese products in terms of automation and intelligence.

It was difficult for China to import Japanese plant protection drones

Although the current Chinese plant protection drone products have achieved a counterattack, they are preparing to "enter" Japan. But more than ten years ago, when China's domestic plant protection drone industry was still blank, Japan already had a relatively complete drone industry chain and had great advantages in the field of plant protection drones.

In 2006, there was also a turmoil between China and Japan caused by drones for plant protection. At that time, Chinese companies wanted to buy a plant protection unmanned helicopter produced by Yamaha, but the Japanese government repeatedly blocked it. Nagoya Customs seized a Yamaha unmanned helicopter that was going to be exported to China. The reason given by the Japanese side is that the export of the drone is not complete, and this unmanned helicopter may be diverted for military use. Yamaha responded that they were exporting unmanned helicopters for pesticide spraying to China, which cannot fly autonomously and are not on the monitoring list. In fact, according to relevant media, the payload of the seized UAV is only about 20 kilograms, which is far from meeting the requirement of the Japanese government that "the payload of unmanned helicopters for export shall not exceed 300 kilograms".

China's civil drone industry has risen in an all-round way

After more than ten years of hard work and accumulation, China's civil drone industry has risen in an all-round way, vigorously developed mature multi-rotor drone technology, and made great progress in the field of plant protection drones, surpassing its Japanese counterparts.

China's advantages in the field of civilian drones have attracted the attention of Japan. Recently, the Japanese cabinet passed a new bill, stating that it will actively promote the development of 5G and drone technology in the country, and eligible Japan will be expected to receive low-interest loans from government-affiliated financial institutions. In addition, Japanese companies are also actively seeking cooperation with Chinese companies. In 2019, Blue innovation, a Japanese company developing a drone application system, cooperated with Xunyi, a Chinese logistics drone company.

Although we have achieved gratifying achievements in the field of drones, we must not be complacent. After all, the road ahead is difficult, and there are still many challenges waiting for Chinese drone companies to overcome.

Looking at the industry as a whole, Weilai's global civilian drones are still optimistic. With the upgrade of intelligent technology and the integrated application of 5G networks, the application of drones in consumer and industrial scenarios will become more diversified. Research institutions predict that by 2020, the drone market will reach $100 billion.