The influential report indicates lower demand for some types of construction machinery while the overall sector remains “robust". The market forecast was highlighted on Friday, 15 March 2024, at the Veronafiere Conference Centre in Verona during SaMoTer Day in the run-up to the 32nd edition of the international construction machinery exhibition scheduled for 6-9 May 2026.
"2024 will be a year of further consolidation," said Stefano Fantacone, CER scientific director. “With a slowdown in sales compared to the peak in 2022, but still well above the 2021 result. The CER forecast likely sales of between 27,500 and 28,000 units." In more detail, construction machinery should reach 27,300 units (-4.9% compared to 2023; 29,613 units were sold in 2022), while earthmoving machinery should be close to 22,700 units sold in 2024. Sales of telehandlers fell to 2,763 units (-4.8% compared to 2023), road-building machinery (-10.4% compared to the previous year) and concrete machines (-3.6% over 2023).
While 2023 was a year of slight decline for Italian construction machinery compared to the previous year (-3.1%, although this figure may well be revised overall from a less negative perspective), it was still 47% higher compared to the volumes five years earlier, equal to 9,000 more machines. The results for road machinery (+31.9%) and concrete machinery (+8.3%) were very positive in 2023. Sales also increased for telehandlers, which posted a growth of 1.8%. The earthmoving machinery segment (-5.3%) saw healthy sales of bulldozers (+53%), compact mini loaders (+15.6%) and dumpers (+10%). Meanwhile, there were significant falls in sales of backhoe loaders (-20.9%), wheeled loaders (-12.2%) and tracked excavators (-9%).
SaMoTer Day was told that despite falling compared to 2023 (from 105.9% to 105%), confidence among Italian construction machinery manufacturers remains high thanks to the prospects available through Superbonus and PNRR (the national resilience and restart programme), which over the next two-year period (2025-26) is expected to post a very marked acceleration which will help relaunch the sector.
In macroeconomic terms, 2024 will see partly contrasting global trends, said CER’s Fantacone. “Growth prospects for the global economy are expected to improve in the two years 2024-25, albeit remaining weak and subject to international tensions that generate uncertainty, from the war in Ukraine to the situation in the Red Sea, the economic competition between China and India in Asia and the slowdown in Germany.
“At the same time, GDP in Italy is expected to grow by 0.9% in 2024. Although rather limited, this is still higher than the average pre-Covid figure."
Talking about the importance of the longstanding SaMoTer exhibition, Raul Barbieri, sales director at Veronafiere, said: “SaMoTer is the only Italian event covering site and construction machinery. 2026 will see several important innovations.
"Following the consolidated guidelines that combine business, innovation, internationality and training. The 32nd edition of SaMoTer will present a full-scale Academy to provide high-quality technical training and create an initial educational path for people keen to develop new skills. Innovation at SaMoTer will also take in logistics, thanks to specific focus meetings in the road transport sector, which will now have a dedicated exhibition area."
SaMoTer Lab returns as the venue for collaboration between institutions and companies in the name of innovation and the Digital Construction Site, where 4.0 machines and digital control technologies can be seen at work.
Maurizio Danese, Veronafiere managing director and president of Aefi (Italian Association of Exhibition Centres and Trade Fairs), believes that trade fairs are a preferential vehicle for doing business. "Figures show us that companies that believe in taking part in trade fairs achieve more than 12% cumulative growth in sales and 0.7 points of additional gross margin compared to competitors; some sectors even show above-average benefits: engineering, as represented by SaMoTer, achieves even better results, thanks precisely to trade fairs, posting growth of 14%."
Another new SaMoTer feature is The Paving Show. This new event was announced today to companies and the sector press during Samoter Day. It will make its debut during SaMoTer (6-9 May 2026). A preview of The Paving Show will be held on 12 and 13 March 2025 as an exhibition conference at Veronafiere.
A SaMoTer Day roundtable moderated by the director of Unacea, Luca Nutarelli, and attended by David Bazzi, managing director of Komatsu Italia Manufacturing, Stefania Casturà, sales marketing manager with Cgt s.p.a., and Mario Spinelli, managing director of Wirtgen Macchine, how sustainability was a key driver of construction machinery innovation and investment. An example is the development of electric motors to limit environmental impact and technological solutions to reduce CO2 emissions.
The roundtable also noted several sector challenges, ranging from interest rates to the SEZs (Special Economy Zones) outlined for Central-Southern Italy and longer delivery times arising from outside factors connected to international geopolitical tensions. However, there are signs of confidence. "Over the last three years, production of bituminous materials in Italy has settled at between 30 and 35 million tonnes, in other words, getting closer to the 40 million tonnes pre-crisis level in 2008," noted Spinelli.
SaMoTer Day was also an opportunity to illustrate the progress of the European InfraRob project involving 18 partners from eight European countries. Coordinated by the University of Vigo in Spain, the 42-month, €5 million EU Horizon 2020-funded project aims to reduce workers' exposure to live traffic and construction machines. “Studies in the technological area seek to make asphalting processes autonomous and automated. The intention is also to reduce fatal accidents caused by road maintenance by 50% and traffic interruptions during road infrastructure by 20%," said Riccardo Viaggi, secretary general of CECE (Committee for European Construction Equipment).
