Imports and exports of construction machinery in the UK have declined over the past few years, it has emerged…
According to the UK’s Construction Equipment Association (CEA), the import and export of construction equipment has seen a decline for the past few years.
The data, which was analysed by CEA’s market information manager Paul Lyons, looks at market trends in the first quarter of 2016. It found that in relation to exports of construction and earthmoving equipment there has been a decline since 2013. This, the CEA said, is due to weakening demands for equipment in many major overseas markets.
However, the news is not all bad, as there are signs the market is starting to stabilise in the last few quarters. Data revealed export levels in January-March 2016 were up by 0.3 per cent when compared to October-December levels. Additionally, they were only 0.7 per cent down when compared to January-March 2015 levels.
During January-March, exports showed a 4.5 per cent increase in value terms when compared to October-December, but were still down one per cent on January-March 2015 levels.
Since 2013, UK imports of construction and earthmoving equipment have been on a rising trend. This reflects a slight improvement in demand in the domestic market. However, in the last two quarters, levels have dropped below those seen in the previous three. January-March 2016 saw a 36.4 per cent increase on low October-December 2015 levels. However, this figure was still 8.5 per cent below the levels seen in January-March 2015.
In January-March 2016, imports saw a 33.8 per cent increase to £281m when compared to October-December 2015. However, this figure was still lower than January-March 2015 by 8.8 per cent.
Export surplus reached £70m in January-March. Comparatively, this figure was £126m in October-December.
UK manufacturers reportedly exported to around 140 different countries during January-March 2016.
During the first quarter of 2016, UK imports of construction and earthmoving equipment came from 45 different countries. Imports from Germany during this period were at higher levels than seen in the second half of 2015, but lower than those seen during the first half of the year. Volumes from Japan also declined, with January-March 2016 reaching levels below all quarterly volumes seen in 2015.