Last year saw a 15% reduction from 2000 figures in Mexico's forklift sales. While sales are slipping, rentals are growing, as end users would rather pay a monthly rent, similar to a lease, and claim tax deductions, than invest in new machines during uncertain times.

Battery-electric forklift sales are gaining ground on internal combustion forklifts, and gas forklifts are becoming increasingly popular due to the considerable price advantage gas has over gasoline.

While January followed the sales/rental trend of 2001, February slipped drastically, and March won't be much better, as Easter week in Mexico is a complete close down for all commercial activities, making this a three-week month for practical purposes.

New import tariffs came into effect in January, which divided tariffs into three categories across the five forklift classes. 'A' is for forklifts from NAFTA countries (the USA and Canada), 'B' is for those from Europe, and 'C' is for those from other countries, such as Japan, China and Taiwan.

Category A forklifts must comply with NAFTA rules, which means a forklift manufactured outside the USA, but sold in the US market, cannot be exported to Mexico claiming NAFTA origin. Some modifications to category C are expected by mid-year. The new import duties are as follows:

A B C
Class 1: 2% 8% 23%
Class 2: 0 0 3%
Class 3: 0 3.8% 18%
Class 4: 2% 8% 23%
Class 5: 2% 8% 23%

Rolf Slobotzky is Forkliftaction.com News's regular columnist from Mexico. He has been in the industry for more than 50 years and is an ex-president of the Mexican Association of Machinery Dealers.