Skip to main content

Italian construction equipment sales inch upwards, Unacea reports

In the first quarter of 2015, sales of construction equipment in the Italian market reached 1,605 units, a rise of 19% year on year. Sales of earthmoving machines were up 16% to 1,556 units and road machine sales jumped nearly 400% to 49 units. Paolo Venturi, president of Unacea, the Italian Construction Equipment Association, said the first quarter figures look promising and continue an upward trend that started last year. But there is still a long way to go because there has been an 80% loss of sales in
April 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Italian manufacturers get pumped over sales trend
In the first quarter of 2015, sales of construction equipment in the Italian market reached 1,605 units, a rise of 19% year on year.

Sales of earthmoving machines were up 16% to 1,556 units and road machine sales jumped nearly 400% to 49 units.

Paolo Venturi, president of 2539 Unacea, the Italian Construction Equipment Association, said the first quarter figures look promising and continue an upward trend that started last year. But there is still a long way to go because there has been an 80% loss of sales in the past seven years.

Peak sales were in 2008, topping €5.216 billion. The Italian industry of construction equipment and attachments directly employs about 6,000 people, with related industries employing another 30,000.

He said Unacea will continue to call for greater action, especially by the government, to stimulate sales. The entire sector is waiting for the government’s three-years public works plan to be announced by the minister of infrastructure and transport Graziano Delrio.

In 2014, according to the data of the Italian institute of Statistics (Istat) processed by Unacea, export sales of construction equipment reported totaled €2,460 million, falling by 1% compared to 2013. The most significant decline was for drilling equipment, down 33%. But there were drops also for concrete equipment (-6%), road machineries (-4%) and earthmoving machines (-1%).

But exports were up for crushing and screening equipment (+19%) and tower cranes (+17%).

The value of imports rose by 25% year over year to €545 million.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • German firms see improving market share
    March 1, 2017
    In 2016, German manufacturers of construction equipment achieved a turnover of €9.3 billion, an increase of 3% compared to 2015. Of note though is that the same period, global sales of construction equipment declined by 1%. German companies managed to perform better than the world market and develop market share. In 2017, they expect another increase in sales by 3%.
  • Liebherr bullish with strong financial results
    April 26, 2017
    The Liebherr Group reports strong financial results for 2016, with a turnover of €9.01 billion. The firm managed to achieve this performance in a difficult market environment, the third-highest turnover in the group's history. Compared to the record year of 2015, this represents a decrease of €228 million or 2.5% however. The firm says that there were marked differences in business performance in the individual sales regions. In Western Europe, Liebherr's most important sales region, turnover increased. Thi
  • French earthmoving market remains strong in Q1 2019
    May 7, 2019
    The French market for earthmoving equipment remained very strong in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest data compiled by CISMA. Q1 sales rose 12% compared to the same quarter 2018 with that for compact equipment up by 14%. CISMA - the French trade association - noted that this performance is mostly due to the strength of sales to rental companies (+32%) and the good performance of non-rental sales. Sales of crawler excavators are up by 11%. Sales of wheeled loaders grew by 23% t
  • Construction industry recovery continues
    June 15, 2016
    The latest report from Europe’s contractor association, the FIEC, shows that the recovery of the construction industry should continue, but at a slower pace. The FIEC reports a 2.4% recovery in activity in the overall EU construction industry in 2015 and forecasts an increase of 2.1% in 2016. “After reaching the bottom in 2013 activity is slowly recovering in the construction industry,” said FIEC Vice-President Jean-Louis Marchand, responsible for economic issues, as he presented FIEC’s annual statistics