Italian construction machinery exports reached nearly €2.2 billion for the first nine months of 2018, up 6.2% on the same period 2017.
Imports were also up, rising 14.4% to hit €710 million, according to the latest surveys made available by the SaMoTer – Prometeia Observatory based on the information input from Unacea, the Italian construction equipment manufacturers’ association.
Italian-built earthmoving machinery and equipment took the largest share of orders from abroad, worth more than €1 billion (+13%). Then came machinery for preparing aggregates with €382 million of sales, up nearly 1%. Drilling stood at €276 million, up also nearly 1%.
However, concrete machinery exports dipped 3% to €211 million and road-building machinery fell 3.6% to €93 million.
Western Europe confirmed its status as the reference destination market in the third quarter of the year. Sales there reached €915 million, up nearly 7%. North America took second place with €287 million of sales but a healthy rise of almost 20%. Central-Eastern Europe plus Turkey ranked third with nearly €276 million in sales, up 14%.
Exports increased to the Middle East, topping €108 million, a rise of 4.4%, and India was up 6.8% to €42 million. But downturns were posted by Central and South America with €99.7 million of sales, a drop of almost 18%. Sales to North African countries, too, fell nearly 13% to €75 million while sales to Russia slipped back only 0.2% to reach €56 million, Chinese imports of Italian machinery were down 1.4% to €46 million.
In relation to the Italian market, imports of construction and site machinery and equipment between January and September came to €710.5 million, up by 14.4% over the first nine months in 2017.
The ongoing recovery in the Italian construction sector contributed to results for vehicle and machinery imports. Data analysed by the SaMoTer – Prometeia Outlook indicate growth in investments of 0.5% in the third quarter of the year.
Forecasts for the final balance in 2018 consequently continue to rise, closing at €140.5 billion euros, up by 1.9%.
