The world’s top-10 construction equipment manufacturers in 2021 revealed

Staff Report,

14 Jul 2022

Yellow Table 2022 rankings see juggling of places and new entrant as equipment sales rebound

The world’s top ten construction equipment companies have emerged in the Yellow Table for 2022, with a few surprises and new entrants.

Unsurprisingly, Caterpillar still leads the world in terms of total sales figures, and is followed by Komatsu, but there has been a juggling of positions thereafter on the table, and the entry of a new name.
The annual Yellow Table ranking is published by the KHL Group, ranking the world’s top 50 construction equipment manufacturers, and is considered the most accurate measure of how manufacturers in the sector fared in the preceding year.

The 2022 Yellow Table also revealed that total sales for 2021 increased by 20.8% to a record high of $232.7 billion and sales rose sharply for the top ten on the list.
While a rise in sales was expected, given the recovery in the sector after a dismal 2020 due to Covid-19, the steepness of the rise was surprising, said KH, with the figure of $232.7bn the highest ever figure for the Yellow Table.

Caterpillar, in first place again, saw sales of $32bn, or around 13.8% of the list’s total amount. Cat production range is also among the widest, with the American company not only manufacturing construction equipment such as excavators, wheeled loaders, skid-steer and backhoe loaders and haulers, but also road making equipment such as pavers, compactors and graders, as well as engines and power products.

Japan’s Komatsu continued to be the second largest manufacturer, with sales of $25.3bn, up from $19.9bn in 2020. Komatsu’s range of products is more limited when compared to Cat, with the Japanese giant concentrating mainly on earthmoving and mining equipment.

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group - or XCMG – is the first of three Chinese companies in the top-10, maintaining its position as the largest Chinese manufacturer and the third largest globally. The company’s strong rise up the table continued with sales of $18.1bn last year.

With sales of $16bn in 2021, another Chinese company, Sany, is fourth on the list. Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. Saw sales of $14.4bn in 2020, and its wide product range enabled it added around $4bn to its sales last year.

John Deere, the American manufacturer of construction machinery and agricultural and forestry equipment, ranked fifth on the table. Moline, Illinois, headquartered Deere and Company climbed one place on the list with sales of $11.3bn. Deere had previously registered a steep rise up the table with its purchase of Germany’s Wirtgen Group in 2017.

Sixth placed Volvo Construction Equipment also rose by on place on the table owing to its strong sales in 2021 of $10.7bn. The company had registered a sharp fall in sales in 2020 owing to the pandemic, but staged a strong recovery last year.

China’s Zoomlion follows Volvo on the table, but its seventh place is a two-spot drop compared to the lats edition of the Yellow Table. In 2021, it has occupied fifth place because of domestic sales in China, which was the only market that grew in the 2020 pandemic year while the rest of the world fell. Zoomlion’s sales for 2021 stood at $10.4bn.

With sales of $9.4bn, Germany’s Liebherr climbed to eighth on the table from ninth in the previous edition. Liebherr range of products is among the most extensive in the industry, with both various cranes and earthmoving equipment, as well as other machinery, such as drill rigs.

Japan’s Hitachi Construction Machinery Company placed ninth on this year’s Yellow Table, seeing its sales rise to $8.8bn from $8.5bn in 2020. The company announced the end of its joint venture with John Deere last year, which had been in place for long time in the North American market.

A surprise entry into the top ten was Sweden Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, which occupied tenth place with sales of $7.2bn. Sandvik’s first time in the top ten can be attributed to the increased activity in the global mining sector, as well as its acquisition of 14 companies in the year as part of a growth plan.

The Yellow Table 2022 rankings:
1. Caterpillar
2. Komatsu
3. XCMG
4. Sany
5. John Deere
6. Volvo CE
7. Zoomlion
8. Liebherr
9. Hitachi
10. Sandvik