Gardening equipment: clear growth in the market
The data on sales of machinery and equipment for gardening and landscaping aannounced at EIMA. Italian market at + 24.3% in nine months 2021, and exports for lawn mowers and chainsaws also up (+23% in July). Turnover 2021 of Italian industries expected at +15% for a value of almost one billion euros. The president of Comagarden, Renato Cifarelli, highlights the problem of raw materials, and the rising costs for Italian companies.
The market for gardening and landscaping equipment is booming. Sales figures for the first nine months of this year - processed by Comagarden/Morgan - indicate an overall growth in sales of 24.3%, thus recovering sharply from the 0.9% drop recorded in the same period of 2020. The data referring to individual types of machinery - presented in the context of EIMA International by Renato Cifarelli, President of Comagarden, the association of manufacturers in the sector - provide a differentiated picture: lawn mowers grew by 19.5%, hedge trimmers by 18.2%, chainsaws by 27.3%, trimmers by 30.4% and garden tractors by 15.8%. The most consistent increases were recorded for blowers/aspirators (+42%) and for motor hoes, which grew by 73.6%, while the only type of vehicle that showed a decrease was sprayers (-38.7%). It is worth noting that, within each type of machine and equipment, battery-powered models showed very significant increases (lawn mowers +46.5%, blowers/aspirators +49.2%, trimmers +61%), confirming that electric vehicles are increasingly popular with the public for their ease of use and lower noise levels. The good performance on the Italian market is combined with a favourable period also on foreign markets (in Europe total sales were already up 30% in the first half of the year). This good trend in foreign demand is pushing exports of Italian machinery towards significant increases (+23% in the January-July period according to ISTAT data on foreign trade, for the lawn mower and chainsaw segments), so that production is also growing, expected to be in the black by the end of the year by 15.3%, for a total of 980 million euros. "The current phase of the market derives from a spontaneous growth in demand - explained Cifarelli - since the gardening sector can make little use of those public incentives, in particular the tax bonus for the purchase of machines with 4.0 systems, which are instead driving the agricultural machinery market". "What the gardening sector and the agricultural mechanics sector have in common - Cifarelli noted - is unfortunately the crisis of raw materials and logistics: ferrous materials, necessary for the manufacture of machinery and equipment for gardening, are now difficult to find if not at enormously high prices, the cost of containers has increased by 300%, the energy bill is increasingly significant and, beyond the economic situation, it will be difficult to return to previous levels”. "The risk - concluded the president of Comagarden - is that the overall increase in costs can no longer be absorbed by the manufacturer and must be added to the price lists, also because production costs must be added to those for research and development of products, which now affect in a very consistent way on company budgets". Themes of gardening and landscaping are enlivening the days of EIMA International, which includes the EIMA Green exhibition, dedicated to the sector and also full of informative and cultural initiatives. Yesterday opened with a training course on "Care and maintenance of green areas, parks and gardens. The main equipment and reference regulations", promoted by Comagarden as part of the "EIMA Green Academy" project. A conference on "Green roofs", promoted by Poliflor, was held yesterday morning; the following meeting promoted by Vulcaplant on "Perennial mineral substrates in ornamental and technological green areas. Experiences and results" was also of a technical nature; and the meeting on "The AI revolution in gardening robotics Ongoing Evolution" organized by Zucchetti Centro Sistemi. The afternoon programme included a conference on "The characteristics of static and dynamic sprinklers", promoted by Toro Pratoverde, and a meeting dedicated to "The rental of agricultural and garden machinery" promoted by Assodimi. At the end of the day, there was an evocative workshop organized by Poliflor on the theme "Green on the walls" and dedicated to vertical coverings, which are increasingly in demand in green installations and urban decoration.
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