The European construction equipment market is at its highest level in five years and outperformed most regions globally in 2016, according to the CECE’s annual report.
Key findings of the CECE Annual Economic Report 2017 reveal that Europe’s construction equipment sector grew by 10%, with building construction experiencing greater demand than the civil engineering sub-sector.
The continent outperformed all regions in the world, barring India and China, with the strongest sales increases volume-wise recorded in France, Germany, and Italy.
“The double-digit sales growth in 2016 sure was positive news for our industry in Europe, but we still see big disparities across the continent”, explained Sebastian Popp, economic expert at CECE. “The German market in particular, and Northern and Western Europe in general, are close to their historical record levels. On the other hand, recovery of Southern Europe and Central and Eastern European countries still falls short of expectations.”
The CECE business barometer index had hit a temporary low following the Brexit vote in
the summer of 2016, but has since then experienced growth, resulting in Europe’s highest index value in almost six years in February 2017.
Interestingly, almost all world regions are seen positive by the manufacturers surveyed in 2017: the US market is expected to see an upturn with increased infrastructure investments pushed forward by the Trump Administration, while China and India are anticipated to continue their upward trend.
A majority of European manufacturers also expect the Middle East markets to recover in 2017, but Latin America, it is anticipated, will not bounce back from its low 2016 level.
For the European market, the manufacturers surveyed in the CECE Barometer expect
a generally positive scenario, except for the Turkish market, with hopes particularly concentrated on Scandinavia, France, and Germany.
