German Construction Equipment and Building Materials Machinery: Optimistic for 2014
Compared to the previous year, turnover in the German construction equipment and building material machinery industry declined slightly in 2013 by 6% to the current figure of € 11.7 bill. Nevertheless, the industry is entering 2014 in an optimistic mood. Incoming orders for construction equipment are currently up by 7%. Despite a continual improvement in the course of the year, at the end of the day the construction equipment industry still had to contend with a moderate sales decline of 3% to a current total of € 7.7 bill. In contrast, in the building materials machinery sector, turnover clearly declined by a total of 13% to the current level of € 4 bill.
Exchange rates impact on building materials machinery market
As far as the building materials machine manufacturers are concerned, it is Russia, the Middle East and the countries of South-East Asia where business is currently going well. But this is not sufficient at the moment to compensate for the declines in other regions. In China, for instance, there is a halt to investment for sectors with excess capacities. In several threshold countries projects have also been put on hold owing to the worsening of exchange rates, because they are simply becoming too expensive for local investors.
EU emissions directive causing a stir in the market
A cause of constant worry for the construction equipment manufacturers is the implementation of the EU emissions directive. In some companies this issue has tied up R&D capacities by almost 100 percent. As a result, innovations in other sectors have fallen by the wayside. For the customers the new machines produced at extremely high development costs did not automatically mean greater benefit or product improvement. It was accordingly difficult to convince them to pay a higher price for the machines. Many manufacturers have suffered as a result.
More commitment in Iran
With the thaw in the political climate, the German construction equipment and building material machines industry would like to show more commitment in Iran, a giant and – prior to the embargo – a very good market for the companies in the sector. The demand was there, Sailer said, the problem was the banks. It was, he continued, simply not possible to get any capital investment.
VDMA
