bauma Conexpo Africa 2015 enters final day

Thousands of visitors were expected again today for the last day of 7719 bauma Conexpo Africa 2015.

The international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines and construction vehicles has been staged at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa during what is a tough time for the African continent’s quarrying, mining and construction sectors.

Despite that, many of the large number of OEMs and smaller company exhibitors at the showpiece 15-18th September event remain optimistic that new investment in infrastructure and improving currency exchanges will lead to an increase in demand for aggregate materials and construction and mining equipment.

7340 XCMG was among a number of leading Chinese equipment manufacturers with a sizeable presence at bauma Conexpo Africa 2015.

“XCMG is not a new brand in South Africa. Between 2007 and 2013 we sold 1,038 units here, and during the last year we’ve set up new branches in [neighbouring countries] Mozambique and Namibia,” said Alec Zhang, the company’s vice general manager.

394 Case Construction Equipment was among many top European-based OEMs at the trade show this week – with the brand’s 570T backhoe loader making its African trade show debut.

“We’ve got a product range for this market that’s spot on,” Andy Blandford, vice president, construction equipment, EMEA at 7044 CNH Industrial. “We need to do more of the same as the business needs consistency. We need to work extremely closely with our dealer network to support our customers.”

Shane Fitzpatrick, executive director for sales and marketing at Barloworld Equipment, 395 Caterpillar’s dealer in South Africa and 10 other southern Africa countries, said that OEMs had been hit hard by the global slump in demand for commodities such as copper. “Customers are trying to get stuff off their balance sheets and we are stressing our RUN - Rental, Used and New Model – equipment options.”

A press conference to highlight preparations for the 386 bauma Munch 2016 exhibition – the world’s biggest trade fair of its kind – included a presentation by 4293 VDMA chairman Johann Sailer. Sailer highlighted new ISC statistics revealing a 25% fall in earthmover equipment sales in Africa in H1 2015, compared to the same period of 2014. Despite the figures, Sailer said that Africa remained a market with “big potential” for mining, quarrying and construction-based companies.