South African earthmoving and mining equipment sales were up strongly in 2017, breaking a three-year downward cycle that had gripped the industry since Q2 2014.
Figures released by the Construction and Mining Equipment Suppliers’ Association (CONMESA) show that 5,614 new units were sold during the year - marking a healthy 18.3% increase over the previous year’s results. Until then the decline in sales had seen the number of units sold dwindle from 7,250 units in 2013 to a low of 4,747 in 2016.
CONMESA chairman, Lawrence Peters, says the increased sales stem from a wide number of factors including regional construction projects, a resurgent agricultural industry, as well as a relative recovery in certain commodities such as coal, which resulted in some suppliers with exposure to those markets doing better than expected.
“A true recovery can only be expected when the market picks up and we see a sustainable improvement across all sectors of the local economy. Nonetheless, it is a positive sign and bodes positively for the year ahead,” says Peters.
The CONMESA figures for the four quarters of 2017 saw equipment sales average around 1,400 units/quarter, which Peters stresses is a welcome improvement over the 1,180 units/quarter averaged in the previous year.
