After the sharp decline at the beginning of the year, the sales of gardening machinery and equipment recorded a steady recovery in the summer and autumn months, reaching a peak in the last quarter which brings the final balance to a surplus of 3.3. %. The data on lawnmowers was negative, while the atomisers / sprayers, also used in the sanitization of environments, are clearly increasing.

The surge in sales recorded in the last quarter of 2020 (+ 34.5%) brings the market for gardening and landscaping machinery and equipment back into the black. The sector, which had suffered a collapse in the first quarter (-24.4%), also due to the stoppage of production and commercial activities following the health emergency, saw a gradual recovery in the summer and autumn months (+12.4 % in the second quarter, + 21.9% in the third) to reach the peak of sales in the period October-December. The average between the negative figure at the beginning of the year and the subsequent recoveries leads to a final positive balance of 3.3%, at the rate of 1,318,000 items sold (from self-propelled machines for green maintenance to individual gardening tools) represent for the sector the best result in the last six years. The market trend - according to the data provided by the association of Italian manufacturers Comagarden on the basis of the survey on the statistical group Morgan - is differentiated by type of product, with positive trends for chainsaws (+ 10% at the rate of 355 thousand units sold ), trimmer (+ 10.6% for 66 thousand units) and hedge trimmers (+ 8.7% in reference to 101 thousand units), and negative trends for lawnmowers (-6%, in the ratio of 258 thousand units) while in the purchases of brushcutters were in line with the previous year (-0.9% with 265 thousand units). "The market for machines and equipment for gardening and landscaping - explains Renato Cifarelli, president of Comagarden - is affected by both the economic trend and climatic factors, for vegetation but not only". "For example, the demand for snow plow machines and equipment is linked to the snowfall trend - explains Cifarelli - which in 2020 recorded a decline of 16.6% due to the mild season. In general, in our opinion, the health emergency has also affected the trend, with more people forced to stay at home and inevitably led to take care of their garden more. The strong growth of atomizers / sprayers (+ 57%) is also linked to the emergency ". "In this case - concludes the president of the manufacturers - the market trend is determined by the flexibility of the technology in question, which has been widely used to carry out the sanitization measures necessary to combat the Covid epidemic".