Sales of construction machinery increased 16% to €4.7bn ($6.2bn). This gain was due to a 34 % rise in sales in the earthmoving and mining product division to €2.4bn (£3.2bn).
The mobile cranes division only grew by 2 % to €1.8bn ($2.4bn), shipping 1,033 new mobile cranes during the year. With global demand for mobile cranes falling 30% during the year, following a previous sizeable decline in 2009, Liebherr says that it has increased in market share in all terrain mobile cranes from 43% to 48% in the past year.
The tower cranes and concrete mixers division was similar to 2009, at €518m turnover. The world tower crane market has shrunk by 60-70% since the peak of 2007, Liebherr said.
Global demand for crawler cranes shrank 40% in 2009 but was steady in 2010.
All these statistics confirm historic trends for earthmoving equipment sales to begin the upcycle ahead of cranes, with crawler cranes recovering ahead of tower cranes, simply reflecting the stage of a construction project on which each type of equipment is used.
Regionally, demand for mobile cranes in the USA is at a record low level, while strong demand is coming from China, Brazil and Australia. Russia has also recovered well from the recession, Liebherr said.
A major investment for Liebherr currently is the modernisation of its US mining truck factory in Newport News, Virginia, on which it is spending €34m ($45m) over the next four years.
Liebherr also has divisions involved in aerospace, refrigerators and hotels.
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