Regional auction companies have been reporting an upturn in sales despite, or perhaps because of, the economic slowdown.
Earlier in the month, RB Auctions in Jebel Ali held its busiest ever sale at the location.
Almost 700 people from 50 countries registered to bid in person or online at the unreserved auction.
Around 2300 heavy equipment items and trucks were sold over three days, generating almost US $46 million in gross auction proceeds, with around two-thirds of the items finding homes with overseas bidders.
A lot of the equipment went to buyers from the Middle East, though there were bidders on-site at the auction from as far away as Singapore, India and Africa.
“The auction went exceptionally well,” said regional manager Steve Barritt. “This was our first Dubai auction in which we sold more equipment to buyers from outside the United Arab Emirates than within.
“Demand for equipment has been so high for so long in the UAE. While that demand has slowed recently, it is still strong in the surrounding Gulf countries and elsewhere in the world.”
Equally, an auction in Doha, Qatar hosted by World Wide Auctioneers (WWA) revealed a higher than expected turnout. The sale, held in the last week of May was for a number of de-mobilised machines from the US military, sold on behalf of American government contractor Trident Kuwait.
“The buyer turnout was good, and the sale prices were better than expected,” said WWA Group CEO Eric Montandon. “We look forward to working with Trident and the US military on similar disposals in the future, and increasing the level of our involvement.
“With WWA managing disposals, and our equity subsidiary Intelspec International managing construction contracts for the US military, we expect our growing relationship with this very solid client to lead to more business in the future.”
