30 March 2020, 14:00
The ERA Market Report is drawn up every year through a coverage of 15 European countries that make up 95% of the overall European rental equipment sector.
With 17,000 rental companies employing 140,000 people – operators excluded – the European rental industry generated € 26 billion in turnover in 2018.
With € 6.8 billion turnover, the UK is by far the largest national mar¬ket, despite virtually stagnating in 2019 and 0.9% growth expected in 2020. France and Germany stand around the € 4 billion mark and these first three countries make up 60% of the total European rental market.
Sweden Italy, Spain and The Nether¬lands range between € 1.6 and € 1.1 billion. The average rental penetration in re¬gards to the construction industry stood at 1.4% in 2018 and invest¬ment in rental equipment grew by 3.1% compared with the previous year.
This year’s special focus of the report is Russia, a very young rental equipment market and modest in size, but with growth potential. Indeed, the market size tripled in the period from 2010 to 2015, both considering market penetration and turnover of equipment rental companies.
During this historic period, certain drivers have been evident, such as the Sochi Winter Olympics, oil and gas-fields development and large industrial construction projects in Siberia. The market is still largely dominated by equipment ownership, most of all in the large mining sector. The rental market in Russia generally features large machines, often rented with an operator for a long period.
The report points to certain typical characteristics of the Russian construction sector as important pull factors for rental: economic and fiscal uncertainties as well as lack of financing could prevent contractors from buying equipment in the near future.
On the opposite hand, bad debts, payment delays, enormous distances and difficult products’ support are increasing the challenges for a young industry.
In the table above you can find the historical evolution of the European rental market with regards to 4 main CECE-type equipment (based on OffHighway Research data on actual sales of equipment – 2007 to 2017).
In light of the collaboration between CECE and the European Rental Association (ERA), this Annual Economic Report features an overview of the European equipment rental market. This quick recap of the main indicators and drivers of the sector is offered as a summary of the ERA Market Report 2018, which is available for purchase. The ERA Market Report is an annual publication by ERA and IHS Markit. The full ERA Market Report features all figures for the overall European sector as well as detailed national figures.
Source: CECE - Committee for European Construction Equipment