German construction equipment sector’s positive end to 2022

Construction work being carried out on a site in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: AdobeStock

At a recent meeting of its Construction Equipment Specialist Group in Frankfurt, the organisation, which represents some 3,500 mechanical and plant engineering companies, said that, in nominal terms, the industry reached a new record last year.

Manufacturers, it said, are reporting full order books and are expecting to be operating at capacity until at least the middle of this year.

The caveat from the meeting was that higher interest rates were putting pressure on the residential construction sector, which had caused “a negative trend”.

Although, from a global perspective, sales of construction equipment fell by 4% in 2022, VDMA said the negative outcome was “entirely due to China”, indicating that the housing crisis, combined with zero-tolerance policies on Covid had caused the the world’s largest market to slump by 43%.

The association said both the European and North American markets had grown at double-digit rates, despite the well documented supply chain issues.

In Europe, the VDMA said, the highest levels of growth had been seen in southern and central eastern Europe, while the largest markets of Germany, France and the UK had remained stable.

Franz-Josef Paus, chairman of VDMA Construction – Equipment and Plant Engineering, said, “Nobody fears production cutbacks due to the energy crisis; our manufacturers want to expand their workforce or at least keep it stable.”

Joachim Strobel, chairman of the VDMA’s Construction Equipment Specialist Group, added, “We are impressed by this positive development, and we can only hope that this trend continues. Our construction equipment sector is currently proving resilient to the energy crisis, inflation and supply chain disruptions.”