Gardening machinery: the Italian market is experiencing a slight uptick

Italy's market for gardening machinery and equipment ended 2024 with a positive balance compared to the previous twelve months. The data on the performance of the sector, provided by the Comagarden manufacturers' association, indicate a positive balance of 20,000 units (+1.5%) for a total of 1,370,200 equipment and vehicles sold (compared to 1,350,500 in 2023). The slight increase reported last year interrupts a negative cycle that began in 2022 (-15.2%) and continued in 2023 (-9%) and, although it does not bring the sector back to the record volumes of 2021 (1.6 million units), it maintains levels higher than those of the pre-pandemic years, when on average less than 1.3 million units were sold in the twelve month period. The growth in demand for gardening technologies seen during and after the Covid period is mainly due to the success of hobbyism and the increase of non-professional operators; phenomena which – as the Comagarden builders association explains – are in turn a consequence of “green” lifestyles and the renewed centrality of green care for personal well-being. 

As regards the performance of the various product types, the increase in sales particularly affected hedge trimmers and lawnmowers, which increased 11% (going from 107,000 to 119,000 units) and 9% (going from 210,000 to 228,000), respectively. Robot lawnmowers continue to gain market share, with 36,000 units sold (up over the approximately 34,000 sold in 2023) gaining a further 7%, and reaching an all-time high. Brush cutters also closed on a positive note, both for petrol-powered models and for electric or battery-powered ones - the former went from 221,000 units sold to 231,000 (+5%), the latter from 108,000 to 118,000 (+9%) - and for blowers, which recorded a +3% increase (going from 152,000 to 157,000). In a scenario characterized by general growth in the purchase and sale of green machinery and equipment, the trend of chainsaws fell by 13%, dropping more than 40,000 units compared to 2023 (falling from 338,000 to 295,000). An especially particular trend is that of snowplows, which dropped a further 38% with just 1,200 units sold (compared to 2,000 in the previous year), marking their worst result ever. Such performance reflects the new Italian weather-climate reality, characterized by increasingly warm winters and an increasingly evident decline in snowfall.