The Italian Construction Equipment Market Recovers its Stability

The construction equipment market, represented in Italy by UNACEA, regains its stability. The fourth quarter of 2020 recovered, in fact, the losses of the beginning of the year. This is what emerged from the streaming press conference on January 26. The reopening of construction sites has played a key role in the recovery and insiders are optimistic for 2021 as well.

On January 26, UNACEA presented the sales figures for the construction equipment sector in Italy with a press conference in live streaming, moderated by Secretary General Luca Nutarelli. In the twelve months of 2020, 16,962 construction equipment machines were placed on the Italian market, with a stationary trend compared to 2019 figures (+0.2%). More in detail, there were 16,251 earthmoving machines sold (0%), and 711 road machines (+15%). Looking at sales in the fourth quarter alone, it emerges that the losses accumulated in the previous nine months of 2020 have been fully recovered. In fact, 6,914 machines were placed on the market between September and December 2020, up 13% compared to the same period in 2019.
This is what emerges from the latest market survey carried out by UNACEA – the Italian trade association of construction equipment – whose results were also commented, during the online conference, by CER – Centro Europa Ricerche.

An important recovery in the fourth quarter 2020

In the second half of the year, the construction equipment sector made a major recovery, thanks to a good performance in the fourth quarter. This applies, above all, to construction equipment, but road machinery also performed well in the last quarter. The encouraging results relating to sales contrast with the figures for both production and imports, both items penalized by the Pandemic and which led to a drop in the trade balance of over 30%. “The Italian construction equipment market has been able to recover in a very dynamic way from the spring lockdown and has
shown that it can play, together with the whole construction sector, an essential anti-cyclical role for the economy as a whole – said Mirco Risi, president of UNACEA. Now we expect more security and stability from the Recovery plan to push forward the recovery this year”. The president also spoke in terms of “feeling”: “Today’s data are more than good; most of all we are not afraid any more, and fear was the worst element during the six weeks of stoppage. There have even been difficulties linked to supplies due to the limited availability of machines and, above all, components”. Risi also declared himself optimistic about investments in the short/medium term in view of the increasingly felt need for safer, more efficient and less polluting machines.

A sector in countertrend compared to other industrial sectors

Stefano Fantacone, scientific director of CER (Centro Europa Ricerche), was among the speakers: “Despite the general climate of uncertainty – he said – the construction sector, and within this, the machinery sector, seem to be benefiting from new and necessary investments. It is a trend that we expect to continue in 2021 when GDP will resume growth at a rate that is likely to be around 4%”. Commenting on the results, he concluded: “These are, without a shadow of a doubt, encouraging figures for the sector, especially when compared to the figures for Italian GDP. The trend was better than expected and the fourth quarter results are definitely bucking the trend compared to other industries. The construction equipment sector is recovering better than the others and we expect a further boost in 2021 with the sector performing better than the growth rate of the macro scenario. The reopening of construction sites, combined with the policy of incentives for Industry 4.0 (plus Isi calls) has had a major impact on the recovery of the sector”.