IC trucks waning, electrics gaining share

LONDON, UK—Key factors driving demand for forklifts include: expansion of warehouse space globally, growing e-commerce business across the globe, strong demand for forklift truck replacement in developed markets, and bulk investments in purchase of low-cost forklift trucks in emerging markets. These were identified in a recent report by Persistence Market Research on the global forklift truck market.

However, increasing purchase prices and climbing associated costs of forklift trucks, and growing environmental concerns regarding the use of IC-engine forklift trucks could dampen demand in the coming years.

Some of the major trends identified in the forklift truck market are integration of innovative technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and big data, to bolster sales in developed markets and focus of manufacturers on reducing emissions by decreasing weight of IC engine powered trucks.

By product type, counterbalance forklifts were the largest segment in the global market in 2014, accounting for 62.3 percent volume share of the overall market. This segment continues to dominate the market in 2015 and the trend is expected to continue.

Electrically powered lift trucks predominated  in 2014, accounting for 57.3 percent share of the global forklift truck market, and the segment is estimated to account for 64.4 percent share of the overall market by 2021, which is attributed to the increasing demand for electric trucks in emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil.

Among regions, Asia Pacific dominated global sales of forklifts in 2014. Europe ranked second, closely followed by North America. The demand for forklift trucks is increasing at a high pace in the Asia-Pacific due to the increasing demand from countries such as China, Japan, and India.

China’s forklift market is dominated by internal combustion truck followed by Eastern Europe is witnessing high growth. One of the biggest restraints for the forklift trucks is their high cost, due to which many of the small scale industries prefer to avail their services on rent rather than owning it.

Key market participants covered in the report include Kion Group AG, Jungheinrich AG, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc, Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), Mitsubishi Nichiyu Forklift Co, Ltd, Crown Equipment Corporation, Anhui HeLi Co, Ltd, CLARK Material Handling Co, Ltd, and UniCarriers Americas Corporation.