Did your favorite brand of equipment make the top 10?

Caterpillar has annual sales of $24.8 billion

The top 10 construction equipment manufacturers is dominated by a familar group of companies, however some of their positions have shifted since last year. 

The top 10 ranking comes from the ‘Yellow Table,’ an annual ranking of the world’s top 50 construction equipment manufacturers by sales figures. This year it shows that sales for 2020 declined by 5.5% to $191.5 billion.

Although this is a decline, it is a much better figure than might have been expected given the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdowns that were implemented in much of the world. It should also be noted that the 2019 table was a record-high and that, in a historical context, $191.5 billion is a very strong figure.

The largest reason that this year’s figure is not considerably lower is China, which was the only major construction equipment market to grow in 2020. With the government quick to put a stimulus plan in place as early as April of last year, there was an immediate surge in equipment sales. Accordingly, Chinese firms have placed very strongly in this year’s list.

Click here to view the latest Yellow Table by International Construction magazine in the latest issue and read the full analysis.

Following are the top 10 construction equipment manufacturers in the world for 2020, ranked lowest to highest:

10. Doosan Infracore

South Korean-based Doosan drops one placed in this year’s Yellow Table, from number 10 to nine. With Hyundai Heavy Industries confirming its takeover of Doosan Infracore with shares of just under 35% giving it management control of the company, it will be interesting to see how this impacts sales for the two companies in the future.

9. Liebherr

The Liebherr Group’s main market is in Europe, with Germany the country where it sees the most sales. With much of Europe under lockdown conditions for sizeable portions of 2020, it is no surprise to see the manufacturer fall one place, from number eight to number nine on the list.

8. Hitachi

Japan-based Hitachi had construction equipment sales of $8.5 billion, a decline from last year although the fall was not as large as some of its competitors. The company also drops one place on the list from last year.

7. Volvo Construction Equipment

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) had sales of $8.8 billion compared to last year’s $9.3 billion. The company is one of the leading OEMs when it comes to electric construction equipment, which could stand it in very good stead in the future.

6. John Deere

John Deere saw the biggest drop in the top 10, falling from third last year to sixth. This could be viewed as a balancing out, as last year the company jumped from number nine on the list to number three – an unheard of rise in the top 10 – due to the purchase of the Wirtgen Group.

5. Zoomlion

Zoomlion has climbed from number 10 to number five with sales of $9.4 billion. The company is the first of a number of Chinese companies in the top 10, indicating how strongly the Chinese market performed in 2020.

4. Sany

Sany has seen an extremely strong increase in sales – from $10.9 billion in last year’s table to $14.4 billion. The company

China was the only major construction equipment market to grow in 2020

has seen especially strong excavator sales.

3. XCMG

Remaining just ahead of Sany is XCMG, which breaks into the top three of the Yellow Table for the first time in the company’s history, a rise of one place from last year. XCMG had sales of $15.1 billion.

2. Komatsu

Komatsu remains at number two on the list, although the gap to the third-placed company has narrowed considerably. Japan-based Komatu saw sales of $19.9 billion, a drop from last year’s $23.2 billion.

1. Caterpillar

Caterpillar retains its traditional position as the world’s biggest construction manufacturer with sales of $24.8 billion – approximately 13% of the total of the whole table. Last year’s table saw Cat’s sales equating to a 16% share of the whole table, which shows the firm’s slight relative decline in sales, but the U.S.-based company is still comfortably out on top for overall sales.