“30%-40% of sales of construction equipment in 2011 were accounted for by equipment financed with European funds. But without these European funds, the market would have only grown by around 20%” says Liviu Neagu, general manager of Bergerat Monnoyeur for Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The company is the distributor in Romania of Caterpillar, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment.
The local market of new equipment amounted to EUR100-110 million last year, while the market of second-hand equipment reached EUR30-50 million, according to company estimates.
“However, these abrupt rises are not very healthy if construction companies aren’t able to sustain them,” Neagu explains. The company posted around EUR23 million in turnover in 2010 and, although it cannot provide an exact figure for the 2011 turnover because the company’s audit is not yet finalized, the manager of Bergerat Monnoyeur says the business “grew significantly against 2010.”
The company sold over 300 new pieces of equipment and over 100 second-hand ones last year, and the entire market amounted to over 1,300 pieces of equipment last year, so Bergerat estimates an over 25% market share.
Around 50% of the local market of construction equipment is accounted for by small equipment, with an average price of EUR50,000 per unit. Small equipment is generally priced starting from EUR15,-20,000 per unit, medium-sized equipment costs around EUR150,000 and big equipment is priced above EUR500,000.
After an 80-85% decline in 2010 and a major rebound last year, forecasts on the 2012 evolution of the construction equipment market indicate stagnation.
“The equipment market could see a slight fluctuation this year, but at the moment we estimate it will be similar to the 2011 level,” says Neagu.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)