The difficult economic outlook in Mexico has meant that, this year, no Mexican forklift industry representatives have attended the 2002 Detroit and Hannover exhibitions.

Many forklift buyers and dealers are more conscious about spending money on trips. An exhibition more likely to draw a Mexican crowd is ProMat in Chicago in 2003 but, again, the amount of travellers will depend on the economy's developments this year.

Unfortunately, forklift sales are currently about 20 per cent down, in comparison to the same time in 2001.