German manufacturers of construction equipment with production in the country are benefiting from strong performance at present. Gains in sales at the end of 2022 saw the firms increase turnover by 3% in real terms for 2022 according to figures collated by the German manufacturing association, the VDMA.
The mood among customers is largely good, according to feedback from participants at the recent annual meeting of the VDMA Construction Equipment Specialist Group in Frankfurt. 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, order intake went through the roof in 2021 as a result of the economic recovery after the pandemic outbreak. The manufacturers are still benefiting from full order books that guarantee capacity utilisation at least until the middle of this year.
Global sales of construction machinery fell by 4% in 2022, although this was entirely due to China, the largest market. A mix of the housing crisis and zero-covid policies 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 the 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," affirmed Franz-Josef Paus, chairman of VDMA Construction – Equipment and Plant Engineering.
The industry expects strong impulses from Europe and North America. There, especially from Conexpo in Las Vegas, which will take place from 14 to 18 March 2023. Both the Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act should continue to provide bright prospects for European suppliers to the construction industry.
"We are impressed by this positive development, and we can only hope that this trend continues. 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.
