European construction equipment remains on the growth path

摘要

2018 was the strongest year for the European construction equipment sector after the economic crisis of 2008/09: sales on the European market grew by 11 °/o, and the absolute market level is now 10% below the 2007 peak. There was a considerably growing momentum over the year: after a 5 Wo sales increase in the first quarter (compared to Q1 2017), growth was at 8.5% and 9.4% in the second and third quarter, respectively. The last quarter even saw an unexpected boom with sales growing by 15 % year-over-year. These are the main findings of the CECE Annual Economic Report 2019. Most regions in Western and Northern Europe saw steady growth. Coming from already high levels, many of these markets reached new historical record levels. Southern Europe and Central and Eastern European markets continued their recovery and grew at above-average levels. Russia confirmed the positive trend of the previous year. The Turkish market was the negative exception: after a stable start into the year, the market fell victim to the general economic climate in the country and recorded a disastrous second half.