In the first 6 months of 2017, sales of construction and earthmoving equipment showed a 6% increase compared with the same period in 2016.
Sales in the first quarter showed an 8% increase on the previous year, but slowed to 4% in the second quarter, in terms of a year-on-year comparison.
Equipment sales in the UK market have shown a distinctive seasonal pattern in the last few years, “peaking” in Q2, and then “bottoming” in Q4. (The graph below illustrates sales on an index basis using Q1 2016 as 100).
Confidence within the equipment supply chain remains positive this year, particularly within the rental sector, which is estimated to account for over 60% of supply to the UK market. Growing demand from major infrastructure projects and a buoyant housing market have underpinned demand in the first half of the year.
Positive sentiment within the industry was demonstrated at the Plantworx exhibition held at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire in June, which is held every 2 years, and attracted a record number of exhibitors.
Equipment sales within the UK market have been relatively strong since 2014, with levels of sales in the last 3 years at their highest since the market crash in 2008. The most popular machine types in the UK are mini and crawler excavators, which find significant usage in the house building market, and account for over half of total equipment sales.
In 2017, the construction equipment statistics exchange has been taken over by Systematics International Ltd., a specialist data processing company.
The scheme is run in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), the UK trade association. This partnership will allow regular quarterly bulletins to be issued on equipment sales in the UK market for the first time.
