Sales of Caterpillar machinery in the Middle East, Europe and Africa increased 41% in September, ensuring the region outperformed the company’s global performance.
The world’s biggest machine maker said that global sales for the three month period ending September grew by 31%, despite drag from the stuttering US and European markets.
The period also marked the 17th consecutive increase in sales but it expects future comparisons to remain on downward trend as it comps against stronger gains at the end of 2010.
Caterpillar also revealed that dealer sales climbed by 35% in the three-month period ending August.
With US sales slumping, revenue growth in the region has been driven by dealers buying equipment for their rental businesses and customers replacing worn-out machinery rather than expanding their equipment fleets.
The strong-performing Latin America market continued to decline, falling from 43% in August to 33% in September, ensuring sales are now comparable to other regions. Conversely, Asian sales increased by 27% at the end of September, compared with 24% increase in August. However the region is still feeling the after-effects of the disruption to production in Japan and the China’s tighter controls over inflation.
