Earthmoving and mining equipment sales have broken a three-year downward cycle moving with a strong increase during 2017.

Figures released by the Construction and Mining Equipment Suppliers’ Association (Conmesa) show that 5614 new units were sold during the year marking a healthy 18.3% increase over the previous year’s results. Until then the decline in sales had seen the number of units sold dwindle from 7250 units in 2013 to a low of 4747 in 2016.

Conmesa Chairman, Lawrence Peters, attribute the increased sales to a wide number of factors including regional construction projects, a resurgent agricultural industry, as well as a relative recovery in certain commodities such as coal which resulted in some suppliers with exposure to those markets doing better than expected.

“A true recovery can only be expected when the market picks up and we see a sustainable improvement across all sectors of the local economy. Nonetheless, it is a positive sign and bodes positively for the year ahead,” Peters says.

He says that figures for the four quarters of 2017 averaged approximately 1400 units per quarter, which is a welcome improvement over the 1180 units per quarter averaged in the previous year.