US construction equipment sector surpirsingly upbeat, despite housing crisis
World-wide infrastructure, energy commodity sectors remain strong
Conexpo show sees 30% rise in international visitors
Many US firms looking to strengthen oveseas positions
Many visitors to the huge Conexpo construction equipment exhibition in Las Vegas earlier this month were surprised at the upbeat atmosphere, in stark contrast to the doom-laden headlines. Of course, Las Vegas does upbeat better than anywhere else. And it is, admittedly too early to say how much of that positive vibe will translate into orders. But there was more to the optimism than glitz, showgirls and gambling.For a start, some would-be purchasers of mobile cranes were complaining of lead times from order to delivery of two years or more.There is a similar picture in the tower crane sector where the established names are working flat out to meet demand, while a number of newcomers are beginning to make their presence felt.And yet anyone who took a break from the show and switched on their hotel-room TV would have been regaled with stories of economic doom and gloom.So what is going on?One simple explanation might be that sub-prime crisis has yet to hit the real world outside Wall Street and the City of London. Another might be that for many of the major construction equipment manufacturers concerns at the state of the housing market in the US and Europe are being offset by the continued strength of the world-wide infrastructure and energy sectors.Then there is the small matter of rapidly rising commodity prices, meaning that demand in the various mining industries remains strong.But perhaps there is another even more important factor behind the Las Vegas vibe. Conexpo today is a more international show than ever before. The organisers would say it always was, but to European eyes, in the last it has been overwhelmingly US-centric. Not so now for that is changing. Exhibitors came from 29 countries, with 49 firms coming from China and a further 23 each from Taiwan and South Korea. Of course, they were looking to sell. But they were looking for dealers, suppliers and long-term strategic partners, too.What is more, a growing number of the smaller US suppliers are looking for – and winning - business outside the US as a way of riding out the economic storm.All of which served to underline the dangers of the increasingly protectionist rhetoric coming from the would-be presidential candidates. Ten facts about Conexpo * CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008 and the co-located IFPE 2008 expositions have set records for attendance, exhibit space and number of exhibiting companies. * CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE are known as global showcases of the latest equipment, product innovations and technological advances for the construction, construction materials and power transmission industries.* More than 144,600 industry professionals from around the world attended during their five-day run from March 11-15, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, USA. * CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008 covered more than 2.28 million net square feet of exhibits (211,966 net square meters).* There were 2,182 CONEXPO exhibitors, 21 percent more than the last show, held in 2005.* IFPE 2008 was also the largest in its history with more than 129,000 net square feet of exhibit space (11,994 net square meters) used by 469 exhibitors – a 16 percent increase in space compared to 2005. * A record number of international industry professionals visited the shows – more than 28,000, which is more than 19 percent of total attendance and represents more than 30 percent growth compared to the last edition of the shows.* International attendance increased by more than 50 percent from the Latin America and Caribbean marketplace, and doubled from China, India and Turkey. There were also significant increases from Canada, Australia, Russia and the Middle East.* International visitors to the shows hailed from more than 130 non-U.S. countries. * There were more than 60 official international customer delegations organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as in-country trade associations and related groups. Graham Anderson, March 24, 2008