Titel-Trader 2.2009.indd - Agritechnica Trader

COMPANIES AND MARKETS
Continues from page 23
lowing good harvests, above
all global combine production
grew – by 9,000 units to some
47,000 combines in 2008. (Table
4 “Global production estimates”).
International trade
with agricultural machinery and
equipment grew by as much as
19 %. The major exporting nations
are Germany, followed by
the USA, Italy, France and now
in fi fth place China too. (Table
5 “Exports of agricultural machinery
and equipment”). Tractors
and combines are the key
drivers for exports. The EU taken
as a whole is the largest site
for agricultural machinery production
worldwide, accounting
for sales of 28 billion euros in
2008 (Table 6 “Production volume
in the EU”).
Europe’s multifaceted agricultural
machinery industry can
call on operational experience at
an extremely wide range of sites
– in small-scale and large-scale
farm structures, in a wide variety
of climate zones and many different
crops cultivated. The fact
that many West European manufacturers
have concentrated in
recent years on developing the
markets of Eastern Europe has
affected some companies all the
more in the decline in the year
2009, as markets such as Russia,
the CIS states and Central
European countries have now
drastically cut their imports due
to the lack of fi nancing facilities.
(Table 7 “Imports by Central
and East European countries”)
“Tigers” – Europe’s
Strongest Growing
Manufacturers
24 TRADER | 2 | 2009
Exports of agricultural machinery and equipment by countries worldwide 2008 Table 5
24%
22%
20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Germany
USA
Italy
France
China
Belgium-Luxemburg
What companies were able to
sharpen their profi les during the
turbulent years 2000 to 2008
by particularly strong growth
in turnover? The German dealer-magazine
„eilbote“ fi rst published
the annual study of corporate
growth among Europe’s
leading agricultural machinery
manufacturers in 2006. The
fi xed reference year for mediumterm
growth in sales is the business
year 1999, which is compared
with the last completed
fi scal year – thus in our present
survey the business year 2008.
This view sheds light above all
on the sustainability of corporate
growth over a number of
years and economic cycles. The
short-term increase in sales by
individual competitors becomes
evident when turnover for the
last two years is compared – thus
in our present study for 2008 by
Imports by Central and East European countries Table 7
in million euros
Russia
Poland
Ukraine
Czech Republic
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Lithuania
Slovakia
Bulgaria
Romania
Slovenia
Latvia
Estonia
Source: National Bureaus of Statistics, estimates for Ukraine and Kazakhstan
United Kingdom
Japan
Netherlands
Austria
Brazil
Canada
Agricultural machinery Tractors
Finland
Denmark
Poland
Sweden
Czech Republik
Hungary
Source: offi cial national statistics, VDMA Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, export and import totals of 42 countries.
2007
2008
2009
0 500 1000 1500 2000
comparison with 2007. Hardly
any of the leading companies
could have imagined in the year
2000 – in other words at the
beginning of this decade – what
headlong development the market
volume and turnover size of
successful agricultural machinery
manufacturers would run
through up to the year 2008.
A few words on the method-
ology of the study.
The turnover fi gures
are taken from the
balance sheet, publication
or announcement
by the listed
companies and have
been converted into
euros at the current
exchange rate
for those companies
that do not draw up
their balance sheets
in euros. They have
not been adjusted
for infl ation. In most cases, the
company business year coincides
with the calendar year. For some
the business year deviates from
the calendar year – but it always
comprises 12 months ending in
the business year quoted. In order
to keep the study manageable
and informative, only companies
with turnover in excess of
50 million euros in the last reference
year (here 2008) are listed.
These 26 companies are based
in nine different countries and
most of them maintain a transnational
network of production
sites, distribution branches and
alliances.
As the market development of
Mexico
Spain
India
Russia
Republik of Korea
Turkey
Ireland
the individual agricultural machinery
product branches proceeds
differently, the companies
have been divided into fi ve “categories”.
This makes it easier to
compare the growth in sales of
the companies within each category.
The companies are listed
in the sequence of sales volume
in the year 2008 for each category.
Category I consists of the
Produktion volumes in the European Union
in billion euros in Mrd. Euro Table 6
30
27,7
25
20
15
10
5
0
19,7 20,5
21,7
23,8
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: Eurostat, VDMA (incl. own calculations)
global longliners with tractors,
machinery and equipment for
grain and harvesting and other
agricultural machinery branches
depending on the company.
Category II lists the three leading
implement specialists who
develop and produce machinery
and equipment for both grassland
and arable farming on a
large scale. Category III consists
of the implement specialists
for arable farming. Category IV
comprises specialists who chiefl y
produce machinery and equipment
for green forage harvesting
and straw recovery. The ad-
Continues on page 26