The Italian construction machine sector is seeing positive developments in the market as demand continues to increase…
Manufacturers of construction machinery in Italy are enjoying a period of growth, it has emerged.
An increased demand for off highway equipment pushed demand during 2015 by 34 per cent—some 9,138 units compared to the previous year.
The sales results showed around 8,813 earthmoving machines were sold—a growth of 32 per cent. A total of 325 road machines were also sold, giving a massive 180 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The data came from the Italian Institute for Statistics (Istat) and was processed by Prometeia on behalf of Samoter Outlook. It revealed a seven per cent growth in exports, which was lower than seen in the previous year.
However, exports of drilling equipment increased by 22 per cent and exports of tower cranes grew 21 per cent.
Further growth was seen in the exports of road machines, which climbed 18 per cent and earthmoving machines grew by eight per cent.
Some decreases were seen in the export of crushing and screening equipment, as well as concrete equipment—both of which dropped four per cent.
On the import side, construction machines enjoyed a 15 per cent increase.
The data revealed the industry trade balance was in positive figures, standing at over €1.538 billion, having grown some 4.5 per cent.
President of Italian construction equipment manufacturing association Unacea Paolo Venturi: “After the darkest years of the crisis, Italy seems to have taken the right path of a gradual recovery.
“Two consecutive years in growth can only be a good result for the industry; however, to fully understand the trend, it must be remembered that this is a more than moderate growth in absolute terms, because it came after six years of heavy losses that have reduced the domestic market by 80 per cent.
“This is why we continue to believe that the recovery has to be promoted and supported, especially in such a period of strong financial instability.”