World demand for construction equipment will recover strongly from the downturn of the past two years, with China leading the growth prospects, according to the chief executive of Japan’s Komatsu, the world’s second-biggest supplier of these machines, writes Peter Marsh.
“By 2012 we expect the size of the world market for large machines to be back broadly to the level we saw [at the industry peak] in 2007,” Kunio Noji said in an interview in Tokyo.
According to the company’s figures, which count large earthmoving machines such as excavators, wheel loaders and dumper trucks, world demand for these products will increase by 22 per cent this year to 257,000 units, from 210,000 units in 2009.