Green machines: stable market in 2019

Sales of green space maintenance machines and equipment held their 2018 levels. After the significant increases recorded in the initial months of 2019, demand decreased in the fourth quarter due to bad weather conditions that blocked maintenance operations. The uncertainties related to Coronavirus are affecting the current year

The market for gardening and green space maintenance machines and equipment closes 2019 with sales levels essentially in line with 2018. This is what emerges from the data processed by the Italian manufacturers' association Comagarden and by the Morgan statistical survey group, which indicate at the end of the year a total of 1,276,000 units sold (including all types of machinery, from self-propelled vehicles to motorized equipment, as well as hand tools) with a 0.1% decrease compared to the 1,277,650 units sold the previous year. The downturn mainly affected chainsaws (-3.9%), snowplows  (-3.6%) and, albeit to a lesser extent, motor hoes (-1.7%), blowers (- 1.6%) and lawn mowers (-1.2%). Pole pruners and garden tractors went decisively against the trend, recording increases of 21.8% and 19.3%. The sales of robotic lawnmowers also grew, reaching 26 thousand units in 2019, thus confirming a growth trend that has characterized this type of vehicle in recent years. A particularly significant trend is the growth, in the various market segments, of battery-powered machines and equipment, which continue to perform better than models with internal combustion engines.
The performance of the chainsaws sector is emblematic: despite ending the year with an overall drop of 3.9%, it nevertheless recorded double-digit increase (30.3%) for battery-powered models.
The same dynamic affected lawn mowers: compared to a general drop of 1.2%, battery-powered machines saw a boom compared to 2018, with a 44.5% increase. In short, in 2019 the shift in demand towards low environmental impact power systems that was already establishing itself in 2018 is consolidating. During 2019, weather and climate conditions weighed heavily on market dynamics. The first quarter of 2019, characterized by mild temperatures that led to an earlier vegetative phase of the plants, had driven the sales of gardening machines, recording a +29% increase. However, the boom at the beginning of the year was offset in the following months by worsening weather conditions, which slowed down maintenance, resulting in a significant setback in the fourth quarter (-12.9%) compared to the same period of the previous year. The market trend in 2020 remains highly uncertain due to the slowdown in economic activities related to the emergence of the "Corona Virus", which may create serious difficulties in the gardening sector not only on the demand side for machinery, but also on procurement and logistics.