BEIJING - China's excavator sales, a gauge of construction activities, is likely to record a surge in July due to increased production, Shanghai Securities News reported Tuesday, citing analysts.

According to industry information provider www.21cme.cn, excavator sales for July are forecast to reach about 17,500 units, with around 15,200 units sold in the domestic market, an increase of 49 percent year-on-year, and about 2,300 units sold in the export market, up 7 percent year-on-year.

Sinolink Securities predicted the sales of excavators in July to record more than 60-percent growth over the same period last year, as core component manufacturers hiked their production targets by 70 percent year-on-year for the previous two months.

The brokerage firm also expected the annual sales of excavators to approach 300,000 units, surging 25 percent.

Listed firms in the construction machinery sector posted robust performance in their forecast for the first half of the year (H1).

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co Ltd, a leading machinery manufacturer, expected its net profits attributable to shareholders to rise between 47.5 percent and 63.03 percent year-on-year in H1, according to a statement filed by the company with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.