German construction equipment manufacturers remain cautiously optimistic at the middle of the year. “After a great bauma trade fair in April, we are again in the midst of our daily business – which holds a number of challenges and uncertainties,” says Johann Sailer, chairman of the VDMA Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Industry Association.

After six months of 2016, turnover among member companies in the construction machinery sector practically stands at last year’s level, and the tendency for the rest of the year points slightly upwards.

“Apart from individual orders in April the sector is still waiting for a demand push. We cannot talk of an upswing here,” says Sailer.

North America and the Middle East, two of the most important growth markets of the past few years, are seeing declines in machinery sales this year. A major contributor is the continuing weakness in the oil and gas sector. This is compounded by the still weak markets of Latin America, Africa and large parts of Asia. Formerly the largest market, China is still not back on its feet and will, after five years of recession, have lost close to an accumulated 80% of its volume. In Asia it is only the Indian construction equipment market that is growing, stimulated by increased investments in road building.