Second-hand forklifts from Japan were restricting the profitability of South Korean manufacturers, statistics from the Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) have revealed.
Without import restrictions to stem the flow of cheap used forklifts, most of which were battery-powered, there was little South Korean manufacturers could do to protect market share, the Tokyo-based CEMA said.
An Asia Pulse report stated: "CEMA cited statistics that showed imported used forklifts accounted for 28.3% of the South Korean market - and 90% of those imports were from Japan."
Clark Material Handling co-president Yoonho Lee told Forkliftaction.com News that imports of the second-hand Japanese products were "affecting" Clark's business locally.
"There are a lot of Japanese trucks entering the market and it is affecting our business, though not significantly," he said.
"There are others in the market that are being affected worse."
Yonhap News Agency quoted an anonymous Clark source as saying: "For the past four years, we have had to incur a loss of 2 billion won (USD1.7 million) every month because of the large inflow of cheap second-hand forklifts from Japan."
The report said used forklifts from Japan were usually priced between 2 million won (USD1700) and 5 million won (USD4300), while new, locally-made products sold for 20 million won (USD17,000) on average.
A CEMA official told Asia Pulse that government regulation of used forklift imports was "greatly needed".
The Japan Industrial Vehicles Association would not comment on the issue before deadline.