Last year 26,060 forklifts were ordered in the United Kingdom. While that was almost a five percent decline on the previous year, the market remains at a high level, says British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) secretary general James Clark.

The UK market has sold more than 25,000 forklifts a year for four consecutive years, compared to 13,530 units in 1991, the worst year of the last severe market downturn. Mr Clark said the decline in orders occurred mainly in the last six months of the year.

"So, in perspective, the market is still in a healthy condition, regardless of a recent slowdown in demand, which grew in intensity during the second half of 2001," he said. "December 2001 saw the lowest monthly level of forklift orders since November 1992."

The counterbalance forklift market underperformed the total market by a small margin, falling by 5.5 percent in the year to December 2001, Mr Clark said. While a significant fall in the market for electric forklifts was noted, the market for internal combustion forklifts performed well in comparison.

"The only major truck type to show an increase in orders in 2001 was low-level order pickers. The market for such trucks is often seen as a barometer for forklift demand from the retail sector and, as such, reflects the relative strength of UK retail sales. Over a five-year period, the market for low-level order pickers has grown more than 50 percent," he said.

After several years of considerable growth, fostered partly by a trend in distribution towards "cross-docking", and some market shift from manual to powered horizontal movement, the market for powered pallet trucks declined 11.2 percent.

"Put into a historical context, however, the market for powered pallet trucks has grown by 36 percent over the five years to December 2001, even taking into account the fall in 2001," Mr Clark said.

The prognosis for 2002 depended much on the interpretation of latter-2001 figures. Mr Clark said whether the downturn was the beginning of a longer-term trend or merely a "blip" would depend on the continued strength of the UK retail sector.

"Early evidence from BITA members indicates the picture may not be quite as poor as expected," he said.