Strong growth in Q1 construction equipment sales

Construction equipment sales saw a 30 percent increase in first-quarter UK sales, suggesting significant momentum in the market. This is according to the construction equipment statistics exchange run by Systematics International Ltd, in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA). Incredibly, retail sales of construction and earthmoving equipment in the UK and Northern Ireland in March 2021 were almost double the levels seen in March last year when the pandemic first made an impact.

Sales in the South East were the strongest at +39 percent in the first quarter of 2021, however, Wales saw the weakest sales in the quarter, at 2 percent below last year’s levels.

The growth in sales is mainly down to excavators, with mini/midi machines up 34.4 percent, and larger crawler excavators up 27.4 percent. Road rollers were up 27.2 percent, and telehandlers (for the construction industry) were at 23.9 percent.

There were some concerns that sales could be held back during 2021, but there is growing confidence that sales should have a good recovery for the year ahead.