Sales of green machinery and equipment are confirmed at 2018 levels: after the significant increases recorded in the first few months of the year, demand decreased in the fourth quarter due to bad weather conditions that blocked maintenance. The unknowns related to Coronavirus weigh on the current year.
Comagarden has recently released data relating to the gardening market, collected by the Morgan statistical survey group which indicate at the end of the year a total of 1,276,000 units sold (including all types of machinery, from self-propelled vehicles to motorized equipment, up to hand tools) with a drop of 0.1% compared to the 1,277,650 units of the previous year.
The downturn mainly affected the chainsaws segment (-3.9%), snowplows (-3.6%) and, albeit to a lesser extent, that of motor hoes (-1.7%), blowers (- 1.6%) and mowers (-1.2%). The pole pruners and garden tractors, which recorded increases of 21.8% and 19.3%, went against the trend.
The sales of robot lawnmowers also increased, reaching 26,000 units in 2019, thus confirming an expansive trend that has characterized this type of vehicle in recent years.
Particularly significant is the growth, in the various market segments, of battery-powered machines and equipment, which continue to perform more brilliantly than the models with a thermal engine.
The performance of the chainsaw sector is emblematic, which despite having closed the year with an overall drop of 3.9%, nevertheless recorded double-digit increases (30.3%) for battery models.
The same dynamic has affected lawn mowers: compared to a general drop of 1.2%, battery-powered machines have registered a real exploit compared to 2018 with an increase of 44.5%.
"In 2019, the shift in demand towards low environmental impact power systems that had already imposed itself strongly in 2018 is being consolidated - explain by Comagarden - During 2019, weather conditions were the main factor to weigh on market dynamics- climatic. The first quarter of 2019, characterized by mild temperatures that had led to an anticipation of the vegetative activity of the plants, had in fact driven sales of gardening machines, recording a + 29%. The boom at the beginning of the year, however, was offset in the following months by a worsening of weather conditions, which slowed down maintenance, resulting in a significant setback in the fourth quarter (-12.9%) compared to the same period of the previous year. The market trend in 2020 remains highly uncertain due to the slowdown in economic activities due to the emergence of Coronavirus, which is also creating serious difficulties in the gardening sector not only on the demand for machinery but also on that of supplies and of logistics ».