"The sales of the construction materials in Europe recorded a 2-digit growth in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015," noted Bernd Holz, President of CECE. "The higher demand extends to all segments of materials, including road materials in the header, almost in all the European markets ". Despite the increase in the first half of 2016, the professionals remain cautious. The CECE index showed a return to positive level in September after a drop in construction activity in July due to the Brexit. The concrete machines manufacturers are currently the most optimistic while road equipment manufacturers are more moderated. The demand in the mining sector for its part, remains low, which impacting on the sales of the construction materials . Nevertheless, the CECE announced a growth of 5 to 10% of sales for 2016.
PUBLICITÉ
In Europe, France providing to be the actual growth driver of 53% after a very bad year 2015. The German market (+ 14%) seems to reach record levels while the United Kingdom suffered a decline of 12%. Italy and Spain continue their respective recovery (+ 33% and + 11%) while the uncertainty ran in Turkey. Russia seems for its part being very down despite an improvement of 4% over the last 6 months. Overall, Central and Eastern European region grew steadily in the construction field, mainly driven by significant investments in infrastructure. According to Euroconstruct, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are expected to grow nearly 4.1% in 2016, 5.7% in 2017 and 6.7% in 2018. Poland clearly takes the leadership with growth in civil engineering of 13% per year between 2015 and 2018.
All the machines segments increase
The equipment segment for the construction continues to grow in Europe with an increase of just over 30% in the first half of 2016. This figure is not surprising reflecting the advancing development of the housing (+3.1 %) and commercial buildings (+ 2.5%) currently in Europe. The Earth moving equipment (excluding telescopic) reach 84,000 units in the first half of 2016, the highest level since 2008, which corresponding to an annual growth of 14%. A dynamism that reflects from the German exhibition Bauma, the much stronger activity in the rental and the good performance of the civil engineering sector. The road equipment continue to recover with an increase of 10% over the first half of 2016. Germany alone counted for 30% of road machines sales just ahead of the United Kingdom.
