COVID-19 significantly impacting 60% of the European construction equipment industry

05/04/2020

Recent findings from a CECE (Committee for European Construction Equipment) flash survey paint a gloomy picture for the European CE Industry facing the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The ad-hoc flash survey ran between 23^rd and 27^th March and gathered input from a representative group of industry leaders assessing the impact and delivering their perception on the business perspective.

With 32% of respondents pointing to significant reduction and 30% reporting factory closures, it is evident that the impact on production and manufacturing is already severe. Only 3% report not being effected at all.

In the second question of the survey, respondents identify the main challenge for the construction equipment industry. The strongest single concern relates to the behaviour of relevant customers’ groups. Indeed, prolonged construction inactivity – jobsites closing down and projects being delayed – is worrying half of the respondents in the CECE survey. Disruptions in the supply chain and general manufacturing shutdowns are identified as the main challenges by over 1/3 of the respondents.

The last question of the flash survey tried to gauge the impact of this crisis on OEMs’ sales expectations. Highlighting the uncertainties that still surround this phase of the COVID-19 crisis in many European countries, 15% of the respondents say it is currently impossible to estimate this. On the other hand, 40% of the replies point to an estimated drop in sales of 10 to 30% and 32% of the respondents foresee an even more severe drop of over 30%. Only 2% are estimating no impact at all on sales expectations.