Garden equipment, stable market awaiting EIMA Green

The weather trend is affecting the market for gardening and landscaping machinery. After a start to the year characterised first by high temperatures and then by a winter recrudescence, the spring season stabilised, alternating between rainy and sunny days, thus favouring the vegetative development of the plants. Purchases of machinery for turf care, hedge maintenance and urban green management already showed a positive trend in the first months of the year: the first quarter showed a growth of 2% compared to the same quarter last year. In Q2, there were signs of distress in the first two months, due to heavy rains, but, at the end of May, as soon as the spring season restarted, favouring a consistent development of the vegetation cover, machine sales recovered. The figures - compiled by the manufacturers' association Comagarden and the Morgan statistical survey group - show an overall result for the first half of the year in line with that of the same period in 2023 (+0.3%), with significant increases for some types: lawn mowers grew by 7%, petrol-driven brushcutters by 5.6%, and brushcutters/line trimmers by 11.7%. Blowers/collectors increased by 4.3%, hedge trimmers by 9.7% and lawn tractors by 13.5%, while chainsaws recorded a conspicuous drop (-22.5%) and snowploughs - again as a direct consequence of the abnormally hot weather - plummeted by 95.2%. The current sales trend suggests that by the end of the year overall growth in units sold is expected to be 2% compared to last year, with increases of around 6% for lawn mowers, 4% for brushcutters, 8% for brushcutters/linetrimmer, and 7% for lawn tractors. The end-of-year figure may be influenced, once again, by the weather, which is causing concern these days due to water shortages, especially in the southern parts of the country. A more detailed report on the sector and a scenario of the most innovative technologies will be given at EIMA Green, the International Exhibition of Machinery and Equipment for Gardening and Landscaping, which will be held from 6 to 10 November at the Bologna Exhibition Centre, as part of EIMA International, the great exhibition of agricultural mechanics organised by FederUnacoma and now in its 46^th edition. In the exhibition area reserved for gardening - explain the organisers - over 200 manufacturers will be present with all their new products in an area of over 10,000 square metres. Alongside the static exhibition of models, EIMA Green also presents an outdoor area for dynamic demonstrations, offering the public - made up of tradespeople and professional maintenance workers, as well as the vast audience of gardening and outdoor hobbyists - an overview of the most innovative solutions and field testing of their effectiveness.