global construction equipment market seeing slight upturn

After declines due to the Great Recession, the market for construction equipment has been on the upswing for most of this year, with forecasts for continued gains in 2019.

According to the market and opinion research site Statista.com, some 167,000 construction equipment units, which are composed of such essentials as bulldozers, excavators, and scrapers, among dozens of other items, are expected to be sold in North America by the end of this year.
That number is up from 160,000 at the end of 2017.

Despite the improvement over Great Recession losses, the North American construction equipment market has overall dropped from a high of 186,000 units in 2016.

Those numbers are similar to the units sold in China, which dropped from 209,000 in 2014 to 147,000 last year.

The Chinese market is now on track for a total this year of 169,000 units, pushing it marginally ahead of units sold in North America for the first time since 2014.

The European market, meanwhile, has increased from 124,000 units in 2014 to around 160,000 units today.

Only in the Indian market has there been a consistent increase in units sold, from 38,000 in 2015 to 54,000 last year and a projected 63,000 units in 2019.

According to the Hamburg, Germany-based Statista: “China, North America, and Europe are expected to be the largest markets for construction equipment for years to come.”

The site adds that while the European market will remain flat and the Chinese market is facing a variety of challenges, the North American market “is expected to continue its buoyancy.”

By Garry Boulard