Italian construction equipment market grows in Q1

A report from Unacea, the Italian 7474 construction equipment association, says that 2,713 machines were sold in the Italian market in the first three months of 2018, a growth of 30% compared to the same period in 2017.

Topping the list were earthmoving machines with 2,623 sold, while the figure for road equipment was 93.

“The Italian market confirms its growth trend also over the first months of 2018,” said Paolo Venturi, president of Unacea.

“However, we should keep in mind that a large part of this growth is more connected to the obsolescence levels of the existing fleet than a real recovery of the building industry.

“Indeed, during the years of the crisis the replacement rate of obsolete machines has fallen. Recovery signs and expectations are stimulating the demand for new machines, but only a relaunch of investments in construction can stabilise medium-term growth.”

Looking at the international trade, in 2017 Italian exports of construction equipment reached €2.8 billion, a growth of 7%.

According to the last edition of the international trade report of the Samoter Outlook, realised in collaboration with Prometeia and Unacea, the export of road machines was up by 20%; crushing and screening equipment (15%), earth-moving machines (14%), tower cranes (9%) and concrete equipment (7.5%). Only the export of drilling machines decreased, by 18%.

However, imports grew by 13% and the surplus of the trade balance increased by 4.6%, reaching €1.8 billion.

France topped the list of destination markets for Italian construction equipment in 2017, buying equipment worth more than €265 million, a 27% growth compared to 2016.