In the April 2015 edition of the International Construction magazine the Yellow Table ranking for the 50 biggest construction equipment manufacturers had been released for 2015. The way the top 50 are ranked gives important insights into the global economy and the construction industry. KHL reports that the market had seen improvement, especially in Europe and North America during 2014, while others saw a decline, most crucially in China.
The combined revenues for the companies in the Top 50 during 2014 had been some 15% under the peak of 2012, which was at US$186 billion, but not yet at the high for the pre-crisis market, which was in 2008 and at US$168 billion. Here are the top 5 construction equipment manufacturing companies, as per the Yellow Table rankings for 2015.
Caterpillar – United States – Rank in 2014 #1
Construction Equipment
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Caterpillar has been at the top of the rankings for the last 13 years, despite seeing a drop in their revenues from US$31.1 billion during 2013 down to US$28.3 billion during 2014. Due to this, they had a drop of 1.2% of the total revenue in the Top 50 to sit at 17.8%, which is still higher than the Komatsu, which is in 2nd place.
They have the largest share in the market for mining equipment and as a direct result of this they have been affected by the global mining industry weakneess.
Komatsu – Japan – Rank in 2014 #2
Construction Equipment
This company has also managed to hold their position at number 2 for the 13th subsequent year and they have also started to be more competitive in pricing against Caterpillar during 2014. This is because of the decline in the yen, which means that they can manufacture and sell their products at a lower price than Caterpillar.
Neverless, they also saw a drop in their revenues compared to last year to US$16.9 billion during 2014 compared to US$17.6 billion during 2013.
Hitachi Construction Machinery – Japan – Rank in 2014 #4
Construction Machinery
This company was also able to take over the position that was held by Volvo because of the changes in the yen and make it into the top 3. Hitachi, along with Volvo, had brought in some US$7.8 billion in sales, but the extra US$5 million in revenue is what gave Hitachi the edge over Volvo.
Volvo Construction Equipment – Sweden – Rank in 2014 #3
Construction Equipment
Volvo saw their position drop from #3 to #4 because of a 0.1% decline in the market share and their sales had increased in Europe and North America. However, the sales had declined in South America, Asia and elsewhere, which saw their revenues drop from US$8.1 billion to US$7.8 billion.
Terex – United States – Rank in 2014 #6
Construction Equipment
Terex is the lone manufacturer featured in the top 5 companies that actually had an increase in their revenues from the previous year by 3%. During 2013 they had reported a revenue of US$7.1 billion, while during 2014 they earned US$7.3 billion.
