There are no signs of a recovery on the Italian market for earthmoving and construction machinery. Following the 2011 balance sheet reporting a drop of 21.3% and a 22.4% plunge in the first quarter of 2012, the sales figures for the first six months of the year came to 3,520 units to disclose an even steeper decline, down 31.5% compared to the same first half last year. The most substantial falloffs were for so-called traditional machinery, that is, dozers, excavators, crawler and wheel loaders with a 38.9% drop, with a downturn of 15.9% reported for backhoe loaders and a decline of 27.6% for the compacts, including mini-excavators, skidsteer loaders and crawlers. Also strongly down were specialized machinery for road works, rollers and vibratory finishers, which reached the end of the semester at minus 49%. Thus the scenario was extremely bleak for the industries in the sector which, however, have been able to offset the domestic market crash with a sound export trend which disclosed a 25.4% gain in value with sales of more than € 340 million over the January-April period, according to data from ISTAT, the National Statistics Institute. Comamoter, the association representing the sector in FederUnacoma under the Confindustria National Manufacturers Federation, pointed out that the earthmoving machinery market is closely tied to building construction and great public works and is thus taking the direct impact of the crisis in these sectors the country is experiencing, especially because of a shortage of public investments and administrative tangles blocking payments for works completed. Comamoter affirmed that the plunge in earthmoving machinery sales is damaging for the industries in the sector and leads to the overall deterioration of the machinery inventory at work in the nation. Without the replacement of obsolete machinery, the association emphasized, it is impossible to pursue policies for the good governance of the land and for the eco-compatibility and safety of worksites, policies which have become urgent and extremely important for the country.
Rome, July 30, 2012
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