China Has Outsized Impact on Global Demand for Off-Road Equipment

Cleveland OH, April 28, 2022 – As the largest consumer of off-road equipment by far, China will continue to have an outsize impact on the global market for off-road equipment, finds a new Freedonia Group analysis. The country is forecast to represent 26% of global absolute gains in 2022. However, opportunities will differ between the major markets:

• Mining and agriculture will see solid growth as these markets continue to recover from the pandemic-related declines in 2020.
• Construction will advance more slowly from a high base, as the market for this equipment posted significant gains in 2020, when a combination of strong government spending and China’s ability to mitigate negative economic effects from the pandemic’s initial phase spurred investment in new and replacement construction equipment.

As a result of these trends, the global construction machinery market is expected to decelerate in 2022, while the mining machinery and agricultural equipment markets will continue to grow at a rate similar to 2021.

Global Off-Road Equipment Demand to Grow Nearly 6% in 2022

The Freedonia Group forecasts global demand for off-road equipment to rise 5.5% between 2021 and 2022 to $481 billion, slightly above 2019 levels. Overall growth will be bolstered by investment in new and replacement machinery featuring state-of-the-art technologies, many of which are designed to improve efficiency and productivity. These include:

• autonomous and semi-autonomous equipment, such as robots
• fuel efficient and low- or zero-emission equipment
• units with advanced ergonomics that provide improved operator comfort and safety
• drones, global positioning, predictive maintenance, and other solutions made possible by developments in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

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Global Off-Road Equipment 2022 provides global off-road equipment demand for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2026 at the manufacturers’ level in current US dollars (i.e., not adjusted to account for inflation). Demand is segmented by equipment type and world region. Data include the value of replacement parts and attachments sold separately. Values do not take into account retail markups. Also excluded are the values of software and services.

Off-road equipment demand is segmented by the following machinery types:

• construction
• agricultural
• mining
• forestry

The study also provides estimates of demand for smart machinery by equipment type. While demand for drones is presented in the study, it is not included in the equipment demand totals. Also, drones used by government agencies or environmental groups to monitor forested land are excluded from the study.