Retail sales of construction and earthmoving equipment in the UK fell by 21.8% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same quarter in 2019.
The pattern of monthly sales during Q1 shows that the impact of the Covid-19 crisis in March caused a sharp fall. Equipment sales in January and February were only down by 6% compared with the same months last year. That was in line with expectations for sales this year, with a further single-digit decline expected compared with 2019. However, in March, sales crashed by 45% compared with last year as a result of the crisis. As a result, the overall reduction for the quarter was 21.8%.
In terms of equipment sales volume, Q1 was just below 6,300 units, compared with over 8,000 units in the first quarter of 2019. In March, sales were just below 1,800 units this year, compared with over 3,200 in March 2019.
Quarterly sales on an index basis from the construction equipment statistics exchange *, using Q1 2018 as 100, illustrates how sales have been on a downward path since 2018. UK sales have a very distinct seasonal pattern, and typically, Q1 would show a swing up from Q4 the previous year. However, in 2020, Q1 sales have stayed at similar levels to Q4 2019.
Sales of major equipment types in the first quarter compared with Q1 last year show that the most popular equipment type, mini and midi excavators (up to 10 tonnes), were the most resilient in Q1, only falling by 9%. All the other types of equipment saw sales declines of 27% or more, with compaction rollers seeing the largest drop, of over 60%, compared with Q1 2019.
* The construction equipment statistics exchange is run by Systematics International Ltd. This scheme is run in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), the UK trade association.
