[zaph]

Quote

Australia has experienced the biggest fall in imports of mining machinery since the global financial crisis.

One of Australia's largest freight forwarders of mining and construction equipment, Skelton Sherborne, on Wednesday warned that its shipping index figures contradicted suggestions that the resource boom was charging ahead unaffected by global economic turmoil.

In the last two months of 2011 the number of heavy machines imported into Australia dropped by nearly 62.5 per cent from 4000 machines to about 1500, it said

....................



As well as measuring heavy machinery imports, the company has launched a tyre index, which showed imports of heavy machinery tyres also falling dramatically late last year - from above 70,000 tyres a month to slightly above 50,000.

Mr Skelton said the indices were a good barometer of actual activity, investment and growth in the mining industry.

http://news.smh.com....0125-1qhi7.html

[cobran20]

Shame their index only starts from 2010. It would have been better if it was at least 10 years old to get a better perspective.

[sydney3000]

Unless you have inside knowledge you are likely to misinterpret the figures. The mining sector is not shrinking (yet). The players were in such haste to satisfy customers and to continuously beat short-term sales targets that they imported months or years of supplies no matter the consequences for the long term.

[cobran20]

Heavy machinery was up substantially in January.

link

[cobran20]

cobran20, on 28 February 2012 - 04:46 AM, said:

Heavy machinery was up substantially in January.

link

but down for the next two months!

link

[cobran20]

Should I forward this link to Goose?!!

Construction sector cops a hammering

Quote

LATEST figures in an index tracking machinery imports paint a bleak picture of the construction sector in Australia, says the nation's largest freight forwarder Skelton Sherborne.

The company's March Shipping Index found heavy machinery imports fell 35 per cent since January, signalling major downturns in construction and housing sectors which were flowing on to equipment dealers and contractors.

"There is no doubt our latest figures paint a bleak outlook for the construction industry, with the residential and commercial sectors being the hardest hit," said Skelton Sherborne director Brad Skelton. "Lower building approval rates coupled with high interest rates are certainly not helping matters."

Construction materials performed better than other areas of manufacturing in April, according to the latest Australian Industry Group PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index, which fell 5.6 points to 43.9 seasonally adjusted.

[Solomon]

cobran20, on 02 May 2012 - 04:08 AM, said:

Should I forward this link to Goose?!!

Construction sector cops a hammering

I'd be interested in the parts importing indices.
When credit dries up, people push to make their machines last longer.
Just like when times are tough, we will extend the life of our cars beyond the economists suggestion to turn them over every 4 years, or 40,000kms.
Might be time to invest in mechanical engineering works.