Europe's leading forklift manufacturer has hit out at FEM's warning of a double-dip in the economy, while the association has issued an update on its outlook for the rest of 2010.

KION Group spokesman Michael Hauger says that the producer of Linde, Still, OM and Baoli forklifts is "highly surprised" by FEM vice president John Meale's predictions of a further dip in the economy that was published in Forkliftaction.com News two weeks ago (Forkliftaction.com News #471).

"We have not seen any advice by FEM to its members to prepare for a double-dip scenario, nor do we expect such an advice," Hauger says.

"As the leading European provider of forklifts, we have observed a very strong market development, which started in the fourth quarter of 2009 and significantly took up speed in 2010," he explains.

Hauger says the group's current challenge is coping with ongoing customer demand for its products "which overall economic indicators strongly support to continue for the near and middle term".

FEM sent Forkliftaction.com News a statement last week, stating that Meale's words of caution were not reflective of the materials handling federation's current views.

The association's secretary general Olivier Janin wrote to Forkliftaction.com News saying Meale's forecast of the European materials handling market was actually provided to Scottish Engineering magazine for publication earlier this year.

"This article was actually provided to the magazine at the beginning of March, though it was only published late June," Janin says.

McConnells PR Agency, which represents Meale's company, Thorworld Industries, was the source for Forkliftaction.com News's article last month. We contacted McConnells to clear up the confusion but did not receive a reply by press time.

FEM's updated statement says:
"The timid recovery witnessed at the end of the year gave some cautious hope for 2010 ... Order intakes have been increasing regularly, some product groups showing particularly good results. Industrial trucks, for instance, experienced a significant market recovery in 2010 with a market volume increase of some 74% in the first four months.

FEM president Philippe Frantz says companies can start looking at the future with "some optimism". "We must wait until the end of the year to have more certainties but the current signs are definitely encouraging."