Korean construction equipment corporations held their ground in the North American and European markets and posted solid year-over-year results in the third quarter following the second. The construction equipment industry said it plans to finish overhauling its structure to be less affected by market conditions and maximize revenue, as the equipment replacement cycle in North America and Europe is set to begin next year.
According to the construction equipment industry on the 7th, HD Hyundai Construction Equipment posted revenue of 954.7 billion won and operating profit of 55.8 billion won in the third quarter of this year. Compared with a year earlier, revenue rose 17% and operating profit rose 30%. HD Hyundai Infracore recorded revenue of 1.1302 trillion won and operating profit of 80.9 billion won in the third quarter of this year. Revenue increased 24.2% and operating profit jumped 290% from the same period last year. Doosan Bobcat's third-quarter revenue this year rose 19% on-year to 2.1152 trillion won, and operating profit increased 6.3% to 133.6 billion won.
Construction equipment affiliates of HD Hyundai Group improved results by expanding sales of mid- to large-sized excavators, which command higher average prices, in the North American market. An industry official said, "Results fell year-over-year in the first quarter but turned positive for two consecutive quarters," and noted, "With the possibility of interest rate cuts and the replacement cycle arriving for equipment sold in large quantities during the COVID-19 period, a recovery in the North American and European markets is expected starting next year." Starting in the fourth quarter, they also plan to raise product prices.
Construction equipment corporations are diversifying their businesses and moving to overhaul their structures. As global demand for mining copper, gold and silver rises, they are expanding product lineups for mines and minerals. Mining sites prefer large excavators of 50 tons or more, and large equipment is a representative high-revenue product. HD Hyundai construction equipment affiliates have increased 50–125 ton class excavator products and sold them to China, Africa and other markets.
HD Hyundai Infracore will begin in earnest to expand its engine business starting next year. In addition to engines for large excavators, it plans to add products such as battery packs for trucks and engines for generators. HD Hyundai Infracore is scheduled to supply truck battery packs to Tata Daewoo Mobility and is also said to have plans to supply generator engines for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. To that end, it began expanding its Gunsan plant in December last year and is expected to start operations around the first half of next year. Last year, the engine institutional sector accounted for 25% of total revenue.
It is also expanding the parts and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) institutional sector. An HD Hyundai Construction Equipment official said, "As HD Hyundai's products have increased in Africa, South America and North America, demand for after-sales service has also grown."