Despite a slowdown in the U.S. market, growth in the worldwide lift truck industry remained strong in 2007.

By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2008

Last year was another good year for the industrial lift truck industry. Worldwide orders grew 12% in 2007, and sales revenue among the world’s largest industrial lift truck suppliers grew even more.

Most of the world’s top suppliers—including No. 1 ranked Toyota—experienced double-digit revenue gains last year. Combined industrial lift truck revenue from all 20 companies on Modern’s ranking list reached $31.67 billion in fiscal year 2007. That’s an increase of almost 22% over the fiscal year 2006 total of $25.99 billion.

Because we ask suppliers to report revenue figures in U.S. dollars, some of this growth is a result of increasingly favorable exchange rates. The euro, for example, gained 10% on the dollar between year-end 2006 and year-end 2007.

According to World Industrial Truck Statistics, Europe remains the largest market for industrial lift trucks. European orders grew 16% last year to 400,000 trucks. Asian orders grew 17% to 280,000 trucks.

America was the only region that experienced a downturn in lift truck orders. Orders from the Americas dropped 3.5% last year to 235,000 trucks. (For more worldwide statistics, see the table)

Our rankings

To be eligible for Modern’s annual top 20 ranking, companies must manufacture and sell lift trucks in at least one of the Industrial Truck Association’s seven truck classes. Rankings are based on worldwide revenue from powered industrial trucks during each company’s most recent fiscal year.

For the sixth consecutive year, Toyota tops Modern’s ranking as the largest supplier of industrial lift trucks. Toyota reported $7.8 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2007, up 20% from the $6.5 billion the company earned in fiscal year 2006. (In last year’s article, Modern listed Toyota at $5.51 billion. Toyota has since corrected that number to $6.5 billion.)

Kion Group, formerly known as Linde, maintains its No. 2 ranking with $6.35 billion in revenue. Rounding out the top five are Jungheinrich, NACCO Industries and Mitsubishi-Caterpillar.

Of these five largest companies, Jungheinrich experienced the greatest revenue increase. The majority of this growth took place in China and Russia, according to Jungheinrich spokesperson Kay Devlin. Toyota also attributes much of its sales growth to the Chinese and European markets.

The growing Chinese market is clearly benefiting Chinese lift truck suppliers. The Hangzhou Forklift Truck Co. nearly doubled its revenue in 2007, growing from $242 million to $414 million. This growth bumped the supplier up one space in the rankings to No. 15.

There was a minor shakeup in our rankings this year due to Nissan’s acquisition of Atlet. Nissan announced its plans to buy the Swedish lift truck maker in September 2007.

The press release announcing the deal said the acquisition is expected to allow both companies to benefit from the exchange of technology and manufacturing know-how and from joint purchasing opportunities. Nissan has continued to operate both brands and sales networks separately.

Nissan’s revenue increase from the acquisition moved the company up one spot to No. 8. The exit of Atlet (ranked No. 15 last year) shifted all the rankings at the bottom of the list and made room for a newcomer: Hubtex.

Hubtex (No. 20), a German supplier, specializes in lift trucks designed to handle long, bulky or heavy loads in narrow aisles.

Changes worth noting

Our list includes one new brand name: Hamech. Hamech (pronounced Hay-meck) is a new line of internal combustion lift trucks built by Komatsu and marketed, sold and serviced by Crown. (All Crown-brand lift trucks are electric.)

Crown and Komatsu signed the marketing agreement for the Hamech brand in January. According to Crown, the marketing agreement allows Crown dealers to offer a single brand of internal combustion lift trucks and a consistent level of aftermarket support.

Our list also includes a correction: Last year we listed Nippon Yusoki Co. (No. 11) as Nichiyu. Nippon Yusoki is the name of the company that produces Nichiyu brand trucks.

Looking to the future

According to Stan Simpson, president of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA, www.indtrk.org), U.S. lift truck orders were down slightly in 2007, and the ITA expects order numbers to continue that slight decline in 2008 and 2009.

Despite the softness, Simpson says ITA members are not wringing their hands. “Compared to 10 years ago, it’s still a really great market,” he says, adding that U.S. orders and shipments are expected to be growing again by the end of 2009.

While the U.S. market is struggling a bit, the world market continues to grow. Simpson predicts worldwide lift truck orders will hit an all-time high in 2008.

The European market is projected to grow slightly this year, with many new orders coming from Eastern Europe, he says, and the Asian market will likely see dramatic growth. “We’re expecting a 25% increase from China,” he says.

With that projection in mind, Modern will be keeping tabs on emerging Chinese and Indian lift truck suppliers whose rapid growth could land them among the Top 20 next year.

Source: World Industrial Truck Statistics

Rank		Company	Rank last year	Fiscal year 2007 worldwide sales revenue	North American brands	World headquarters
1		Toyota Industries Corp.	1	$7.80 billion	Toyota, Raymond	Aichi, Japan
2		Kion Group	2	$6.35 billion	Linde	Wiesbaden, Germany
3		Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp.	3	$3.18 billion	Jungheinrich	Hamburg, Germany
4		NACCO Industries	4	$2.72 billion	Hyster, Yale	Cleveland, Ohio
5		Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift	6	$1.90 billion	Mitsubishi, CAT	Sagamihara, Japan
6		Crown Equipment Corp.	5	$1.82 billion	Crown, Hamech	New Bremen, Ohio
7		TCM Corp.	8	$1.30 billion	TCM	Tokyo, Japan
8		Nissan Forklift Corp.	9	$1.28 billion	Nissan, Barrett, Atlet	Tokyo, Japan
9		Komatsu Utility Co.	7	$1.21 billion	Komatsu, Tusk	Tokyo, Japan
10		Anhui Forklift Group	10	$806 million	Heli	Hefei, Anhui, China
11		Nippon Yusoki Co.	12	$684 million	Not available in North America	Kyoto, Japan
12		Doosan Infracore	11	$537 million	Doosan Infracore	Seoul, South Korea
13		Clark Material Handling	13	$467 million	Clark	Seoul, South Korea
14		Manitou	14	$460 million	Manitou	Ancenis, France
15		Zhejiang Hangcha Engineering Machinery Co.	16	$414 million	HC	Hangzhou, China
16		Hyundai Heavy Industries	17	$212 million	Hyundai	Ulsan, South Korea
17		Rocla	19	$182 million	Not available in North America	Järvenpää, Finland
18		Tailift	18	$165 million	Tailift, World-Lift	Taichung, Taiwan
19		Combilift	20	$115 million	Combilift	Monaghan, Ireland
20		Hubtex	not listed	$69 million	Hubtex	Fulda, Germany