UK plant market to fall 35%

The UK’s construction equipment market will fall 35% this year and another 9% next, according to revised predictions from Off-Highway Research (OHR). It based its predictions on interviews with manufacturers and dealers throughout Europe during the second week of October.

Over the last couple of years the UK has been Europe’s largest market for construction equipment and OHR said a correction was predicted but not of this magnitude. In Western Europe only the Republic of Ireland and Spain are predicted to be harder hit with declines of 48% and 62% respectively.

Mini excavator sales in the UK are expected to fall by up to 45% to 8,000 units this year and 7,000 in 2009. A predicted 32% decline in crawler excavator sales will be mainly at the light end of the market and will be followed by a smaller fall next year to 5,500 units.

A robust agricultural sector limited the decline in telehandlers sales to 6,000 units this year, from 8,750 last, with sales dropping a further 500 units in 2009. Sizable drops are also predicted for the ADT and wheel loader markets.

Commenting on the predictions, OHR’s David Phillips said: “The level of business expected in the UK over the next couple of years has only been surpassed in the years since 2003. This would assume that some correction was needed and that these volumes are more sustainable over the longer term, than those seen over the last couple of years.”

Looking further ahead he said: “The loss of confidence is so strong that it is unlikely that any recovery in the situation will be seen before 2010 at the earliest.”