The sector saw healthy results in 2021, with a 30% rise in sales to 25,554 units. Growth in 2022 is expected to be around 11% to 28,465 units.
The statistics from the Italian Construction Machinery Union (Unacea) and CER (European Research Centre) were released at this week's SaMoTer Day at Veronafiere in Verona, Italy. The next edition of the triennial construction machinery exhibition SaMoTer is scheduled 3-7 May 2023 alongside the Asphaltica exhibition.
Federico Bricolo, president of Veronafiere, said: "The companies that placed their trust in trade fairs between 2012 and 2019 posted 12.6% more growth in sales and 0.7% in gross margin (Ebitda) compared to competitors. Some sectors have achieved above average results: mechanical engineering - the sector represented by SaMoTer - performed even better with +14.4%.
"We are planning for 2023 an edition of the show that will take into account this scenario of significant expansion, which, in coming years, will see the Italian construction sector receive more than €107 billion of Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) funds. This is why we are also moving at government level to ensure that institutional decision-makers attend SaMoTer and thereby facilitate discussion about these issues with companies and associations."
Meanwhile, Michele Turrini, president of Siteb (Strade Italiane & Bitume), said: "Let's start with the success of the Asphaltica 2021 event attended in person by an excellent number of qualified operators, despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. The conglomerate and bitumen supply chain posted excellent results in 2021 in terms of production and sales, with product quantity up from 23 to 27 million tonnes. This excellent performance, however, must also take into consideration the routine maintenance requirements of Italy's road network, for which at least 35 million tonnes of conglomerate would be needed every year. As regards the first half of 2022, results are not quite as good, given the high cost of energy and raw materials that penalised bitumen producers and machinery importers, posting -35%. We hope to recover in the second half and close the year by limiting losses to -10%."
The data in the Unacea report outlined by Stefano Fantacone, CER scientific director, indicate that there was a strong acceleration in Italian construction machinery sales in the last quarter of 2021. Even data for the first quarter of 2022 seem to reflect only a slight slowdown in the wake of the price of energy and difficulties in procurement of parts. Nevertheless, the construction machinery market trend remains positive, particularly for excavators, wheeled loaders and wheeled excavators.
Sales growth by unit type in 2022 should see an increase of 10% for telehandlers, 11.3% for construction machinery, 11.8% for earth-moving machinery, 15.1% for road machinery, and 17.4% for concrete machinery. Exported Italian construction machinery in Q1 2022 was worth €689.5 million, up 7.4% in value on the same period last year. Construction machinery imports to Italy nearly doubled in value to €529.7 million, up 94.7%.
Luca Nutarelli, secretary-general of Unacea, stated: "The construction machinery market in Italy continues to be dynamic, even if there is a slowdown for order books arising from uncertainties caused by geopolitical tensions. However, we hope to close the year with two-figure [sales] growth."
