November’s 4% year-on-year fall follows a shortfall of 3% in October and suggests that sales stabilised at just below 2019 levels in the last quarter of 2020.
Machinery sales for the first 11 months of 2020 were still way below 2019's level – 26.6% down, in fact. When December’s numbers are analysed 2020 full-year numbers are expected to be about 25% down on 2019 overall.
The most popular equipment type, mini and midi excavators (up to 10 tonnes), have seen stronger sales recovery than all of the other equipment types. Sales of mini/midi excavators in the first 11 months of the year were only 9% below 2019 levels. Alongside this, many other types of equipment are also seeing sales recover in recent months. However, telehandlers (for construction only) remain the weakest and are still seeing sales significantly below pre-Covid levels.
Sales data are gather by Systematics International on behalf of the Construction Equipment Association (CEA).
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