Two of China's biggest forklift manufacturers are in the newly released Modern Materials Handling (MMH) magazine's list of top 20 global forklift suppliers.

The list ranks forklift suppliers according to global sales revenue for 2005. Companies must make and sell forklifts in at least one of the Industrial Truck Association's seven forklift classes to be included in the annual list.

Anhui Heli, China's top selling forklift producer, rose to 13th position from 20th position in last year's list. The Hefei province-based supplier made worldwide sales revenue of USD288 million for its Heli brand forklifts in 2005.

China's second highest selling forklift producer, Hangzhou, was a newcomer to the list, making it to the 16th spot with 2005 worldwide sales revenue of USD165 million.

As in 2004, Toyota (USD5.07 billion) and Linde (USD4.50 billion) topped the 2005 list with first and second positions. Nacco Industries (USD2.40 billion), placed third, and Jungheinrich (USD1.95 billion), fourth, swapped positions from last year (Forkliftaction.com News #224).

Mitsubishi-Caterpillar (USD1.49 billion), Crown (USD1.46 billion), Komatsu (USD1.06 billion), TCM (USD800 million), Nissan (USD760 million) and Doosan (USD423 million) completed the top 10.

As with dhf-intralogistik magazine's world ranking list, Hangzhou and Combilift were first-timers to the MMH list (Forkliftaction.com News #253).

MMH associate editor Corinne Kator said next year's list could be affected by the changes in Linde Material Handling's future.

"As the fiscal year progresses, the industry will keep an eye on Linde, whose parent company is seeking a buyer for its forklift business," she wrote.