While UK construction is a net importer of building materials, it is a net exporter of building machinery.
The UK remained a net exporter of mobile construction and earthmoving equipment in 2021, with exports 64% higher than imports. However, this was smaller margin than in previous years. In 2020, exports were more than double the level of imports.
Of course, it depends what machines you include in your counting – diggers, dumpers and telehandlers (which we make in the UK) are included; cranes of any type (which we don’t make and so travel in only one direction) are not included in the numbers. Neither are tunnel boring machines.
The fourth quarter of 2021 saw imports and exports move in markedly different directions. Exports rose 21% on Q3 levels and reached £977m. This was a similar level to Q4 2018, which was the highest quarterly level since trade has been monitored from 2013. As a result, exports for the whole of 2021 were 25% above 2020 levels at £3,442m, which was similar to the high levels reached in 2019.
In contrast, machinery imports in Q4 fell 22% on Q3, to £413m. For 2021 as a whole, imports were up 67% up on 2020 levels, reaching £2,092m. In terms of value rather than units, 2021 saw more construction machinery imported into the UK than in any year since market monitoring began in 2013.
As previously reported, the number of mobile construction and earthmoving machines sold in the UK reached 36,200 among the selected categories, making it the best year for UK plant sales since the financial crash of 2007/08.
Exports in 2021 included £175m worth of machines to Russia, the UK's fifth biggest export market for mobile construction and earthmoving machinery last year. That is unlikely to be repeated for a while.
The full list of destination markets for UK made machinery is shown in the table below.
The data are gathered by Systematics International from the construction equipment data exchange for the Construction Equipment Association.
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