Retail sales of construction and earthmoving equipment in the UK showed another significant fall in November at 33% below the same month last year.
As a result, sales in the first 11 months of the year are now 7.7% lower than 1 January – 30 November last year, reaching over 32,000 units. Sales in the last five months have all been below 2022 levels and remain on a downward trend. However, this compares with a record-high year since the financial crash. To make a broader comparison, sales in the first eleven months of this year are still 5.5% above average in the previous four years from 2019 to 2022.
Looking at major equipment types, Wheeled Loaders (+8%) continue to show the strongest growth this year compared with 2022. However, sales of Telehandlers (for construction) have moved ahead of last year’s levels in recent months, and as a result, sales for the first eleven months of the year are now just over 3% ahead of last year’s levels during the same period. In contrast, other high-volume products continue to see sales fall further behind 2022 levels. Mini/Midi excavators are over 8% lower than last year’s levels, and Crawler Excavators are 16% below 2022.
Only two UK regions continue to see sales ahead of last year’s, in the South East of England (+18%) and Scotland (+6%). Amongst the other regions, the areas recording the biggest falls compared with 2022 are the North West of England (-20 %) and London (-18 %). Equipment sales in the Republic of Ireland are also reported in the statistics exchange. Sales in November were 11% below last year’s and continue to see sales fall behind last year’s levels in the year’s second half. However, sales in the year’s first eleven months are 3.5% ahead of last year’s levels, helped by a strong start.
Systematics International Ltd runs the construction equipment statistics exchange with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), the UK trade association.
