The secretary-general of European construction equipment manufacturing association CECE has highlighted the recent improving trends in the sector's business climate after the disastrous decline in April and May.
Riccardo Viaggi was presenting the latest findings from CECE’s market intelligence research during an online meeting for European dealers of Chinese equipment maker LiuGong.
Viaggi said the CECE Business Climate Index indicates that confidence had bounced back in June with factories reopening and companies working on the old backlog of orders.
However, the survey also showed that the overall yearly performance would be very negative: over 2/3 of respondents in the regular monthly CECE COVID-19 surveys expect a drop in revenues between 10 and 30% for 2020.
Viaggi highlighted the importance of public recovery programmes at national and European levels in boosting investments after the COVID-crisis. He added that this is particularly important with regards to the content and the timing of the European Recovery Fund, which is currently being discussed at the EU level. It is expected that the construction sector will be central to the national recovery plans to access the proposed funds of the Next Generation EU programmes.
The current proposal by the European Commission stands at €750bn, but Viaggi told participants at the LiuGong online meeting that the national or even local level implementation for buildings and infrastructure will make the difference in any recovery in 2021.
The LiuGong presentation is part of the initial activities after LiuGong Dressta Machinery has joined CECE as an affiliated member, with its manufacturing unit in Poland not yet represented by the industry association.
