UK construction equipment sales increase by 70%

Sales of construction equipment in the UK have risen by 73% in the first half of 2021, compared to the same period last year, according to the Construction Equipment Association (CEA).

Latest retail figures from the association’s construction equipment statistics exchange, which covers sales in the UK and Northern Ireland, revealed that more than 18,000 units of equipment were sold during the period.

This includes roughly 2,400 construction telehandlers, 3,400 crawler excavators and 10,500 mini/midi excavators were sold in the UK.

The CEA said, “Comparisons with sales in earlier years indicate how buoyant the market has been in 2021, with sales ahead of both 2018 (by 4%) and 2019 (+7%) in the first half of the year.

“Like many other industries, the sector is still experiencing supply chain shortages and price rises for many products and materials. High levels of equipment sales in the face of this demonstrate the underlying strength of current demand in the construction market.”

While many people expected the wider construction industry to rebound after the decline brought on by the pandemic, few could have predicted such a strong upsurge in the equipment market - even with the recent increases in government infrastructure spending.  

According to the CEA, the growth in construction and earthmoving machinery sales for June of 2021 were 75% higher than in June of 2020, which brought the total number of units sold during the second quarter of this year to around 10,000.

Regionally, Scotland and the North West of England experienced the biggest increases in equipment sales, with sales more than double what they were in the first six months of 2020.

The construction equipment statistics exchange is run by Systematics International Ltd. This scheme is run in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), the UK trade association.