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UK exports and imports of construction equipment are up 21% in Q3 2017

UK exports of construction and earthmoving equipment remained buoyant for the first nine months 2017, showing a 21% increase compared with the same period 2016. Imports of equipment also remained strong, showing a 12% increase in the same period over 2016. In the third quarter 2017, exports equipment showed a further modest increase for the fourth consecutive quarter. Exports in Q3 were 1.3% up on Q2 levels at €807 million (£723 million). This was the highest quarterly level for more than two years
November 28, 2017 Read time: 3 mins
UK exports of construction and earthmoving equipment remained buoyant for the first nine months 2017, showing a 21% increase compared with the same period 2016.
 
Imports of equipment also remained strong, showing a 12% increase in the same period over 2016.

In the third quarter 2017, exports equipment showed a further modest increase for the fourth consecutive quarter. Exports in Q3 were 1.3% up on Q2 levels at €807 million (£723 million). This was the highest quarterly level for more than two years, since Q2 2015.

The increasing levels of exports of equipment can be attributed to both improving demand in many of the major overseas markets, as well as the benefit of the weaker £ exchange rate since the middle of 2016, following the Brexit referendum.

Japan remains the single biggest source of imports in 2017, accounting for 20% of total imports of equipment in the first nine months of the year on a monetary basis.

Overall, the UK remains a net exporter of construction and earthmoving equipment, measured in both weight and monetary terms. In Q3, the trade surplus increased significantly to €425 million (£381 million), the highest quarterly level since 2014. In the first nine months of the year, the export surplus has shown a 33% increase on the same period in 2016.

The US remained top destination for UK exports in the first nine months of 2017, accounting for 23% of total exports on a monetary value basis. Exports to the European Union’s 28 member countries increased to 44% of total exports on a monetary basis in the first nine months of the year, compared with 41% in 2016.

Imports of equipment showed a reduction in Q3, following the same seasonal pattern as the past two years, “peaking” in April-June quarter and “bottoming” in October-December.

However, in monetary value, imports in Q3 were 6% higher than the same quarter in 2016, at nearly €382 million (£342 million). In the first nine months of 2017, imports are 12% higher than the same period in 2016, at about €1,260 million (£1,128 million).
 
Higher levels of imports of equipment in the first nine of the year are consistent with higher equipment sales to the UK market, according to the UK construction equipment data exchange. This shows an increase of 6% in equipment sales in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2016. The UK construction equipment data exchange is operated by Systematics International, a specialist data processing company to whose data the CEA has access.

Data used in the CEA report is taken from the government’s official trade statistics. It covers construction and earth moving equipment, excluding separate trade data for components and parts.

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