Construction equipment sector starts the new year with momentum
Published 6/3 at 09:34The manufacturers of construction equipment with production in Germany have reported a strong year end spurt that enabled them to increase turnover by 3% in real terms for 2022.
The mood among customers is largely good, according to feedback from participants at the annual meeting of the VDMA construction equipment specialist group in Frankfurt at the beginning of February. In nominal terms, the industry reached a new record last year. Even though the order intake in this period is down 21% due to a base effect – in 2021 the order intake increased dramatically as a result of the economic recovery following the pandemic – manufacturers are still benefiting from full order books that guarantee capacity utilisation at least until the middle of this year. The only negative trend at the moment is in building construction, as higher interest rates are putting pressure on the residential construction sector.
Global sales of construction machinery fell by 4% in 2022. A mix of the housing crisis and zero tolerance Covid policies in China caused the market there to slump by 43%. North America and the European home market, on the other hand, grew at double digit rates despite supply bottlenecks. In Europe, growth was concentrated in Southern and Central Eastern Europe. The largest markets, Germany, France and Great Britain, were stable.
“Nobody fears production cutbacks due to the energy crisis; our manufacturers want to expand their workforce or at least keep it stable,” commented Franz-Josef Paus, chairman of VDMA Construction – Equipment and Plant Engineering. “Our construction equipment sector is currently proving resilient to the energy crisis, inflation and supply chain disruptions,” Joachim Strobel, chairman of the VDMA's Construction Equipment Specialist Group, concluded.
