SALES of construction equipment in the UK continued to show a ‘strong recovery’ at the end of 2020, according to newly released figures.
As most construction sites remained operational despite ongoing Covid-related restrictions, sales in December were 15% ahead of December 2019 levels, resulting in total Q4 sales being 1% above the same quarter 12 months earlier.
For the overall year 2020, sales ended up 24.5% below 2019 levels at just over 24,000 units for the year. The steep decline, due to the pandemic, is less than feared earlier in the year when sales declined by 38% in the first half of the year following the initial outbreak.
The most popular equipment type, mini and midi excavators (up to 10 tonnes), saw stronger demand than all other equipment types with sales only 5.5% below 2019 levels. This was partly attributed to demand for smaller machines from the housebuilding sector. By contrast, sales of the other major equipment types dipped between 28% and 57% when compared with 2019.
The figures were provided by the the construction equipment statistics exchange, which is run by Systematics International Ltd. This scheme is run in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association.
