By US correspondent Roger Renstrom

Civilian forklift demand in the US and Canada in 2006 was forecast as "basically flat", Industrial Truck Association (ITA) president James Malvaso told the ITA's 54th annual meeting.

Speaking at a presidents' forum on doing business in an unsettled market, Malvaso said the ITA's 2005 projection for North American sales was 189,075; 2004 sales totaled 182,452.

Expressing a prevalent sentiment at the meeting, Malvaso, who is president and CEO of Raymond Corp, of Greene, New York, USA, said: "We don't understand the impact of China."

Ambrogio Bollini, president of the European Federation of Materials Handling's Industrial Truck Division and managing director of Cesab Carrelli Elevatori, of Bologna, Italy, said forklift sales in Europe increased to 286,774 last year from 258,745 in 2003. Europe accounted for 40.7 per cent of 2004's 704,210 global sales.
Demand was growing faster in Eastern Europe than Western Europe and percentage growth in China was increasing at a higher rate than any other market, Bollini said.

In Japan, electric counterbalanced trucks gained another 1.2 per cent of market share at the expense of internal combustion trucks (ICs). During 2004, electrics accounted for 29.6 per cent and ICs 70.4 per cent of the market, said Rikuro Tasaka, president of the Japan Industrial Vehicle Association and chairman of TCM Corp, of Tokyo, Japan. Japanese demand for forklifts was less than the available supply, Tasaka said. "In the future, supply may have to be reduced."

Nearly 300 delegates attended the meeting held from October 29 to November 1 in Rancho Mirage, California.