Italian equipment market continues growth in first three-quarters 2017

Growth in the first three-quarters of 2017 remained high for the Italian construction manufacturing sector, according to the umbrella organisation Unacea.

Over the first nine months of the year, 7,964 units of construction equipment were sold in the Italian market, up 13% compared with the same period in 2016.

This consisted of 7,551 earthmoving machines, up 13% year-on-year. Positive trends were also seen in the road equipment sector, which was up 11% on a similar basis, with 318 machines sold.

Italian production of construction equipment has also seen a solid performance, reaching €2.6 billion in 2016 and it is forecast to show a moderate increase in 2017.

Finally, export levels remain high with an average of 75% of production exported and peaking at levels up to 95%.

“The national industry and market continue to show signs of recovery. However there are still several missed opportunities,” said Paolo Venturi, president of Unacea, the Italian construction equipment manufacturers association.

“For a long time, we have been asking the municipal administrations to recognise the issue of emissions in urban areas resulting from the use of obsolete construction equipment. Measures introduced in 2017 which consider emissions from agriculture and domestic heating in addition to vehicular traffic would seem to go in the right direction. But, the construction equipment sector remains excluded, still with no kind of restriction for the use of obsolete machines,” he said.

“This is a missed opportunity to contribute to improvement in air quality.”