Global Market Scan: Upbeat note from heavy machinery manufacturing

In February, Caterpillar reported strong results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the year overall. The company’s profit exceeded analysts’ expectations largely due to increased sales in the energy and transportation segment. Caterpillar is the largest manufacturer of heavy machinery in the world.

As quoted by Bloomberg, Caterpillar’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Umpleby said: “Overall demand remains healthy across most of our end markets for our products and services…This reflects continuing healthy customer demand as well as our strong operating performance.” Despite the regional sales growth in North America and Latin America, Komatsu faced a demand slowdown in Asia and Europe in 2023. For the future, Komatsu forecasts a varied regional performance. The weakest demand is expected to occur in China, where a continuing slowdown in construction activity is anticipated.

Going forward, infrastructure development is also likely to decrease due to a lack of investment. A large part of infrastructure funding from local government is tied to the sale of land, which has recently declined significantly. In its 2024 outlook, Oxford Economics is expecting Chinese construction to decrease by -5.6 per cent., 2024 construction trends will be based on increased investment in infrastructure projects, such as power generation, water, roads, bridges, airports, railways etc.

There is a massive pipeline of infrastructure projects that is likely to attract both government and private funding. One of the major initiatives in Latin America for 2024 is the construction of the US$890 million third reservoir for the Panama Canal.

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