New quarterly sales update from the CEA

UK construction equipment sales figures show six per cent growth in first half of 2017

SALES of construction and earthmoving equipment showed a 6% increase in the first six months of 2017, compared with the same period in 2016, whilst sales in the first three months showed an 8% increase on the previous year, but slowed to 4% in the second quarter, in terms of a year-on-year comparison, according to a brand new quarterly sales update from the Construction Equipment Association (CEA).

With growing demand from major infrastructure projects and a buoyant housing market underpinning demand in the first half of 2017, confidence within the equipment supply chain remains positive this year, particularly within the rental sector, which is estimated to account for more than 60% of supply to the UK market.

Equipment sales within the UK market have been relatively strong since 2014, with sales in the last three years at their highest levels since the market crash in 2008, although the UK market has shown a distinctive seasonal pattern in the last few years, with sales ‘peaking’ in the second quarter, and then ‘bottoming’ in the fourth quarter.

This year, the construction equipment statistics exchange has been taken over by data-processing specialists Systematics International Ltd. The scheme is being run in partnership with the CEA, allowing regular quarterly bulletins to be issued on equipment sales in the UK market for the first time. Historically, most updates on construction equipment sales in the UK have been on an annual basis only.

Paul Lyons, the CEA’s market information manager, said: ‘Being able to publish this press release and comment on industry sales to the wider world is a ‘breakthrough’ situation for the Association. The plan is to publish regular quarterly updates in future, which the CEA believes will be useful for parties who are interested in tracking the status of the industry during the year.’