3.3 Market for industrial trucks

Industrial truck markets around the world benefited from the economic upturn in the regions, with the growth in these markets mirroring the rate of economic recovery in the underlying economies. In contrast to the slump in global order intake in 2009, which had fallen by 37 per cent to 548,000 units, the global markets rallied in 2010 with an increase of 45 per cent to 796,000 units. The upturn in eastern Europe and the emerging markets of Asia and South America, which had begun in 2009, continued last year and generated far higher growth rates than in the developed markets of western Europe, the USA and Japan. This caused a further shift in the market shares of the individual regions. The main contributor to global market growth was China, which now has a 25 per cent share of the global market, compared with just 13 per cent in 2008.

After a long winter, order intake in the western European market only began to pick up towards the end of the first quarter. The market grew by a total of 23 per cent to 222,000 units year on year, reaching its peak for the reporting period in December. Despite this rise, the market remains at a low level: order intake for 2010 is approximately 32 per cent below that of the record year of 2007 and at about the same level as 1999. Western Europe presents a very mixed picture. Germany, Europe's largest market, was the biggest driver of growth, recording an order intake of 61,500 units. This increase of 38 per cent accounted for almost half of the growth in western Europe. The rise in exports and industrial output was the main reason for higher demand for material-handling solutions. This increase was spread equally across all product types: electric counterbalance trucks, IC trucks and warehouse equipment. In contrast, western Europe's second largest market, France, grew by a relatively modest 12 per cent. However, it should be noted that the French market had proven very stable during the economic crisis due to its high proportion of warehouse equipment. It therefore had less pent-up demand than countries that had been hit harder by the crisis. The euro crisis and the state of the affected economies are also reflected in the market data. Greece, Ireland and Portugal were the only countries in western Europe to record a contraction of the market for the second year in a row. Although the Spanish market increased by 19 per cent to 14,000 units, order intake remains very low and is just 46 per cent of the level achieved in 2007.

The positive trend in the eastern European market continued in 2010 and order intake increased by 94 per cent year on year to 40,000 units. Following a sharp decline and the reduction of significant inventories in 2009, growth in the Russian market was very encouraging in 2010. With an order intake of 15,300 units, which equated to a rate of growth of more than 370 per cent, Russia has regained its position as the largest market in eastern Europe and the fifth-largest in Europe as a whole. However, the eastern European market is still 46 per cent down on its 2007 level. The main drivers of growth during 2010 were counterbalance trucks fitted with internal combustion engines.

Order intake in the North American industrial trucks market also benefited from the economic recovery. This market, which had peaked earlier than the others, namely in 2006, grew by 38 per cent in 2010 to 136,000 units. All product types contributed to the upturn. The South American market had recovered to reach its historic high back at the end of 2009, before more than doubling in 2010. Brazil, which is South America's largest market, enjoyed an even greater rate of growth, rising by 170 per cent to 23,000 units. In 2010, the Brazilian market attained its highest-ever level.