UK imports and exports of construction equipment in the second quarter of 2022 recorded increases on Q1 levels.
Analysis provided by Paul Lyons, data analyst at the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), found that in monetary terms, trade was at the highest quarterly levels for both since 2013, when monitoring of trade has been recorded.
The record levels can be partly attributed to higher prices for equipment due to increases in the price of steel and other products used in manufacture. However, the levels of trade measured on a tonnage shipped basis have also been at ‘relatively high levels’ in recent quarters.
Imports of equipment in Q2 reached £696 million – a 10% increase on Q1. This took the level of imports in the first half of the year to £1,330 million, which was 16% higher than the first half of 2021.
Imports of tonnage shipped in Q2 were 113 k tonnes, which was a 9% increase on Q1 levels. However, in the first half of the year, imports reached 216 k tonnes, which was 2% below 2021 levels for the same period.
Overall, the analysis found that high levels of imports in the first half of the year are consistent with equipment sales remaining at ‘very high levels’ compared with earlier years. The EU share of total imports in the first half of the year was 68%, returning to similar levels seen in 2020. This followed a reduced level of 63% in 2021, which was attributed to a post-Brexit effect.
Exports of equipment in Q2 were £984 million – a 10% increase on Q1 levels. This took trade in the first half of the year to £1,879 million, 13% higher than 2021 levels during the same period.
On a tonnage shipped basis, exports in Q2 were 3% higher than Q1 in the second quarter, and reached 165 k tonnes. For the first half of the year, the comparison is similar, with shipments reaching 326 k tonnes, which was 3.5% higher than the same period last year.
While the share of exports to EU markets showed an increase to 47% in Q2, it stands at 45% in the first half of the year and remains at lower levels than 2020.
The UK remained a net exporter of construction and earthmoving equipment in the first half of 2022, with exports (£1,879 million) 41% higher than imports (£1,330 million). However, this was a much smaller margin than in 2021 overall, when exports were 64% higher than the level of imports.
The USA remained the top destination for UK exports in the first half of 2022, and increased its share of total exports to 27%, compared with levels of around 22% to 23% in the previous two years. The country that had shown the strongest growth for exports during 2021 was Russia. However, not surprisingly, its ranking has fallen to 11th place in the first half of this year, following only £3 million worth of exports in Q2. This follows trade sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine. Exports to the Irish Republic remained ‘strong’ in Q2 and maintained its position in second place in the destination country rankings.
In the first half of 2022, UK imports of construction and earthmoving equipment arrived from over 60 different countries. Similar to previous years, Japan has remained the leading source for imports on a tonnage shipped basis, while Germany remains the leading source in monetary terms. Imports from France have continued to grow, with their share of imports increasing to 9% this year for tonnage shipped, compared with 4% during 2021.
The data used in the report is taken from HMRC official trade statistics and covers construction and earthmoving equipment (excluding separate trade data for components and parts).
