On August 15, MMH magazine of the United States released the 2021 global forklift manufacturer ranking list. Because some of the data quoted by Chinese enterprises are inconsistent: 2021 global forklift manufacturer ranking list according to the actual situation in China.
In 2021, the cumulative sales volume of five types of forklifts of domestic motor industrial vehicle manufacturers was 1099383, an increase of 37.38% compared with 800239 in the same period last year. From the list, we can see that the magazine still ranks six domestic enterprises, including Heli, Hangcha, Longgong, Zhongli, Noli and Liugong. Heli and Hangcha still rank seventh and eighth respectively. Longgong dropped from 14th to 16th last year, and Zhongli EP rose from 16th to 12th last year.
Although the magazine has noticed the development of domestic forklift manufacturing enterprises, it still fails to truly reflect the global ranking of industrial vehicles. There is a big discrepancy in quoting the data of individual Chinese manufacturers. According to the authoritative data obtained by zhongfork.com, the data of longking and Liugong have not been updated, and they both quote the data of 2019, so there is a big discrepancy. Longking's revenue in 2021 was 4.1 billion yuan (about 643 million US dollars), so it rose from the 14th place last year to the 13th place. Liugong's revenue in 2021 was 1 billion yuan (about 157 million US dollars). In addition, two Chinese companies were not included in the ranking. Shaoguan BYD Industrial Co., Ltd. (BYD) ranked 17th with an income of 1.6 billion yuan (about 251 million US dollars) in 2021, and Ningbo Ruyi Co., Ltd. ranked 20th with an income of 950 million yuan (about 149 million US dollars) in 2021. Among them, BYD is a leading brand of new energy electric forklifts. It has entered the forklift industry since 2010. At present, the market of lithium-ion forklifts has exceeded 40000, and the maximum mileage of a single vehicle exceeds 60000 kilometers; Ruyi: since 1989, the production, sales and quality of "Xilin" brand warehousing and material handling products have always been at the forefront of their peers in the country, and "Xilin" brand products have been well-known in 156 countries and regions.
Among the top 20 enterprises in the world, China's influence in the world has been continuously strengthened. In the first half of 2022, the sales volume of China's industrial vehicle industry continued to rise to nearly 590000 units, and the storage forklift continued to grow. Enterprises focusing on storage, logistics and handling equipment are likely to hit the top 20 in the world in 2022.
As in previous years, American modern material handling magazine still failed to include Sweden's Kalmar and China's Sany company in the rankings for various reasons.
What is the difference in forklift sales in 2021. Although the demand for new forklifts was suppressed in the first few months of the global COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, sales rebounded in 2021. Our annual ranking list is a measure of this year-on-year change. The overall revenue of enterprises on this year's list increased by more than 18% in 2021.
On the whole, 2021 is a year of growth for forklift suppliers. Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, some industries stopped working for some time, while others shelved equipment investment. It is true that 2021 is facing the continuous challenge of the epidemic, mainly in the supply of parts that affect the production of forklifts, but the demand for forklifts has proved to be favorable, because the suspension has been lifted, and many industries need forklifts to meet customer needs and perform operations.
The improvement of the demand environment last year promoted the sales volume of the companies on the annual Top 20 forklift supplier list. As in previous years, our list is based on the last year's revenue data we obtained by investigating top suppliers, so this year, it is based on the global data in 2021. The total revenue of this year's list in 2021 exceeded $50.9 billion, up from about $42.8 billion in 2020, with an annual growth rate of 18.8%.
This growth curve is consistent with other industry studies. For example, the industrial forklift Association (ITA), which tracks the sales data of its members in North America, said earlier this year that the sales of new forklifts in categories 1 to 5 in North America reached 347677 in 2021, an increase of 230134 forklifts sold in these categories in North America in 2020.
Our annual list of top 20 forklift suppliers is based on revenue data obtained from the questionnaire (see the box at the end of this article for more information about our standards). Although not a comprehensive study of the forklift market, it does show that the market is returning to growth as end users want to improve their material handling capacity.
The pent up demand in the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic may accelerate the market development in 2021, but it remains to be seen to what extent the current adverse factors, including inflation and geopolitical instability, will affect the market in the rest of 2022 and the subsequent sales in the next year.
Toyota Industries (TICO) is still number one in our top 20 list. The company includes the Toyota and Raymond brands, and its revenue increased by 25.7% from $12.67 billion in fiscal 2020 to $15.92 billion in fiscal 2021. The company sold 282492 sets in fiscal year 2021, covering all forklift categories.
In last year's company news, Toyota material handling company (TMH) announced in December 2021 that Jeff rufener would step down as president and CEO of TMH and appointed bill finerty as president and CEO of TMH, effective from the beginning of 2022. Earlier this year, TMH launched 22 new electric forklifts, calling it the largest product launch in history. Meanwhile, the company's Raymond brand celebrated its 100th anniversary, an important milestone in 2022.
According to the industrial forklift and service data in its annual report for fiscal year 2021 (Kaiao reported its fiscal year 2021 in early March 2022), Kaiao's global revenue in 2021 ranked second, reaching US $7.37 billion (translated from euros, based on the exchange rate at the end of 2021), higher than the 2020 revenue of US $6.92 billion reported to us last year.
Yonghengli, the third ranked company, had a revenue of $5.51 billion in 2021, higher than the $4.55 billion we listed for them last year. The company said it sold 162400 vehicles in 2021. In the Americas, yonghengli products are distributed by Mitsubishi logisnext Americas group, which launched a new series of yonghengli forward moving forklifts in August last year.
Mitsubishi (logisnext) ranks fourth on our list, with revenue of $4.04 billion in 2021, up from $3.78 billion the previous year. It can be seen from the report that the company sold 103000 units last year.
Last year, Mitsubishi logisnext Americas group and Kalmar signed a supply agreement in the Americas. According to the agreement, Kalmar will produce and supply class V pneumatic tire forklifts of Mitsubishi forklift brand for the group. Among other alliance initiatives of the Americas group, last year it cooperated with phantom auto, a leading supplier of interoperable remote operation software, to achieve remote operation of certain driverless tractors and forklifts. Last year, the group also partnered with powerfleet to provide factory installed telematics options to customers in North America.
Crown's revenue in fiscal year 2021 was US $4.01 billion, up from US $3.62 billion the previous year and ranking fifth.
Ranked sixth, Hyster Yale reported revenue of $3.07 billion in 2021, up from $2.81 billion in 2020. The company sold about 94900 units in 2021, up from 85500 units in 2020.
In the first quarter of 2021, the company's nuvera fuel cell subsidiary sold most of its ownership in oneh2, earning $4.6 million. In general, Hyster Yale said that its goal is consistent: "to change the way the world transports materials from the port to the country, and the best overall value, by becoming the world's leading integrated designer, manufacturer and marketer of a full range of forklift solutions that provide the lowest cost of ownership."
The seventh ranked Anhui Forklift Group's revenue increased from US $1.93 billion in 2020 to US $2.4 billion in 2021, an increase of nearly 25%. The company's North American headquarters is located in Atlanta, and 274815 units were sold worldwide in 2021.
Ranked eighth is Hangcha group, which announced a revenue of 2.27 billion US dollars in 2021, a significant increase from the 1.26 billion US dollars we ranked last year. Because Hangcha group did not respond at that time, we used the data of 2019.
Doosan ranked 9th with revenue of $1.35 billion in 2021, up from $904 million in 2020. This strong growth is enough to make them one place higher than last year.
Manitou entered the top 10. As of press time, we could not obtain its forklift sales revenue in 2021. Like other suppliers that did not respond in time, or whose annual reports did not explicitly list the revenue related to forklift sales in 2021, we were included in the ranking according to the data of the previous year (2020 data) provided to us by Manitou. Manitou's revenue in 2020 was $1.2 billion.
In our list this year, there are some strong companies (in percentage terms) in the second half of the top 20.
In Clark's material handling report, revenue in 2021 was $812 million, up from $705 million in 2020, an increase of 15.2%. In the recent company news, Clark released its s series three wheel electric forklift globally in 2021, and launched twli forklift earlier this year, which is a lithium powered three wheel forklift.
Zhejiang Zhongli, whose brand is big Joe, jumped to 12th place this year. The company grew rapidly, from sales of $359 million in 2020 to $652 million in 2021, with revenue growth of nearly 82%. The company reported that it sold 245000 powered forklifts in 2021.
Dan rosskam, President of big lift LLC (a business unit of EP), pointed out in a questionnaire survey to modern magazine that big Joe's product line has expanded to autonomous and lithium power units, and its internal attention to material procurement helps it prepare for sales when market demand rebounds.
"I am very proud that our team has foreseen and alleviated many supply chain problems to a large extent, which enables us to accelerate growth in a very challenging macro environment," rosskamm said.
Komatsu ranked 13th this year. As of the time of press release, we could not obtain its information. Therefore, we used the figure of $705 million provided to us by Komatsu last year.
Hyundai material handling, a subsidiary of Hyundai true Co., has a strong growth this year, ranking 14th. In 2021, the company's revenue was $441 million, higher than the $406 million we announced for it last year. In the 2021 American company news, Hyundai appointed Lewis Byers as the vice president and chief operating officer of the modern material handling forklift department, reporting to JY Kim, President and CEO of Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas.
At No. 15 is combilift, with revenue of $388 million in 2021, up from $366 million in 2020. The company's U.S. headquarters is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, and 6919 units were sold in 2021, up from 6477 units in 2020.
In 2021, combilift launched the aisle master OP forklift for the e-commerce industry, but the company added that all its industries experienced "abnormal demand" in 2021, including warehousing, multi-directional forklift and oversized or heavy-duty demand. The company continues to implement the policy of reinvesting 7% of the turnover into R & D.
As of press time, Longgong forklift Co., Ltd. had no response. We quoted the company's data last year. Its revenue was 343 million US dollars, which made them 16th in the ranking.
As a new member of the top 20 last year, Noblelift achieved growth and maintained its 17th position. The company reported revenue of $240 million in 2021, up 60% from $150 million in 2020. In 2021, Noblelift sold 123000 power forklifts in all categories.
Liugong ranks 18th with an income of US $94 million. Its product lines include electric forklifts, internal combustion forklifts, tractors and automatic guided vehicles.
Rising to No. 19 was Godrej & Boyce, which reported revenue of $86.8 million in 2021, up from $60.6 million in 2020. The Godrej material handling business unit of this diversified company is said to be the largest forklift supplier in India. The company said it sold 4160 powered industrial vehicles in 2021.
Hubtex's revenue remained unchanged at $72 million, making it into our top 20.
Analysts in the forklift market pointed out that compared with the market affected by the epidemic in 2020, forklift sales rebounded strongly in 2021. In addition, since major forklift suppliers provide self driving models, it is reasonable to remain optimistic for a long time and choose alternative power options suitable for users' long-term interest in automation and sustainability.
For example, interaction analysis predicted at the end of 2021 that the global forklift market would grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% from 2021 to 2030, higher than the previous forecast.
It is difficult to predict the macroeconomic conditions (such as inflation, war and COVID-19), but it is certain that material handling will still occur. New forklifts will be an important part to meet this demand, and these products will be more digital and automated.
How do suppliers rank
To qualify for the ranking of the top 20 forklift suppliers of modern logistics, the company must manufacture and sell forklifts that belong to at least one of the seven forklift categories of the industrial vehicle Association: electric forklifts; Narrow channel electric forklift with solid tires; Electric manual forklift; Internal combustion sit on forklift, equipped with shock-absorbing tires (suitable for indoor use); Internal combustion sit on forklift, equipped with pneumatic tires, suitable for outdoor use on rough surfaces; Electric or internal combustion driven Station Driven forklift (can tow at least 1000 pounds of materials, not for material lifting); Off road forklift.
The ranking is based on the global revenue of powered industrial forklifts in each company's most recent fiscal year. The income data submitted in foreign currency is calculated using the exchange rate as of December 31, 2021. Due to currency exchange issues and timing, percentage changes of some suppliers may be different from figures or percentages in annual reports or other sources.
ITA's Forklift classification
The industrial forklift Association (ITA, indtrk. ORG) defines seven types of forklifts, which are defined by engine type, working environment, operator position and equipment characteristics.
Forklifts include:
·Class I: electric forklift, equipped with pneumatic tires or shock-absorbing tires;
·Class II: narrow channel electric forklift with solid tires;
·Class III: electric manual forklift / manual forklift, equipped with solid tires;
·Class IV: internal combustion sit on forklift, equipped with shock-absorbing tires, suitable for hard road and indoor operation;
·Class V: internal combustion sit on forklift, equipped with pneumatic tires, suitable for outdoor use on rough surfaces;
·Class VI: electric or internal combustion driven Station Driven forklift, which can tow (but not lift) at least 1000 pounds of materials, and is not used for material lifting;
·Class VII: generally, only diesel engines and pneumatic tires are equipped, which is applicable to off-road forklifts in rough terrain and used outdoors.
Categories I to V are mainly used for indoor material handling.
