Hans-Herbert Schultz is managing director of Jungheinrich UK Ltd, a division of the German-owned Jungheinrich Group, which has manufacturing facilities Worldwide.
With the latest figures available from the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) indicating that annual UK forklift sales are likely to be nudging the 32,000 mark in 2007, it would appear that the boom-bust cycle days of the British forklift market are a thing of the past. While UK sales of certain models, most notably engine powered pallet trucks and IC-engine counterbalanced machines, dipped slightly in 2006, the wildly fluctuating year-on-year sales figures of the '80s and early '90s seem to have been left behind.
Globally, the market for forklift trucks continues to grow. Industrial truck statistics indicate that in 2007, some 930,000 units will have been sold around the world - up 9% on the previous 12 months.
Europe continues to be the biggest single market and, while exact figures are not available this early in the year, most reliable sources expect the European market to have accounted for in the region of 45% of all truck sales in 2007. If that forecast does prove accurate - and early indications are that it will - the European market will be 405,000 trucks. This figure represents an increase of 15% on the 353,000 units sold in 2006.
There can be little doubt where most of this growth is coming from. In 2001, the fledgling economies of the former Eastern Bloc countries accounted for a mere 5.5% of all new European forklift sales. In 2007, this figure is likely to have shot up to 17%, with companies operating in the 'New Europe' acquiring a staggering 70,000 units during the year.
Like Europe, the Asian market (including China) has also been buoyant. Overall, sales in Asia are expected to have grown by 15% in 2007 with some 270,000 unit sales recorded.
In fact, of the major global territories, only the North American market is spluttering. Sales in the US are forecast to have dropped by some 15% to 180,000 trucks in 2007 compared to 2006 when 213,000 new units entered the market. With the fallout from the sub-prime 'credit crunch' likely to rumble on for some time to come, it will be interesting to see how the US market performs in 2008.
Having invested significantly in both new product design and the redevelopment of our production facilities within the past 18 months, the Jungheinrich Group expects to record its highest ever order intake during 2007 and a turnover of two billion euros is forecast.
Of course, much of what we achieve on a global basis is underpinned by our European market dominance and our continued success in Europe will support our development of future growth markets such as China and Russia.