As we summarize the Swedish forwarder market of 2019 we come to the conclusion that it was a very good year with no fewer than 366 forwarders registered. Only 2011, that is all time high so far, was better with 398 registered forwarders in Sweden. The increase from the somewhat poorer year of 2018 is almost 35 percent, and pretty much all manufacturers have registered more forwarders in 2019 than the year before. Regarding market shares, there are two clear winners of 2019, one of them a newly crowned market leader among providers of forwarders in Sweden.
Komatsu increases their deliveries of forwarders
Most registered machines among all manufacturers in 2019 is from Komatsu Forest. With 115 forwarders, they have now surpassed John Deere who in 2019 registered 109 machines on the Swedish market. For Komatsu, this is almost twice the number of registered and delivered forwarders in Sweden compared to the year before. From 67 machines in 2018 to 115 last year.
Ponsse is closing in
The second winner in 2019 is Ponsse, who increased their forwarder deliveries by 56% compared to 2018. From 41 to 64 machines. Consequently, Ponsse is now undisputedly holds the third place in the Swedish market. The distance to the lead decreases, while at the same time distance to the fourth place, held by Rottne, increases. In 2018, eight machines separated Ponsse and Rottne, but in 2019 the difference has increased to 26 machines. Another manufacturer that has increased its market share in Sweden is Tigercat, albeit starting from a low level. Their large forwarder, the 1075C, have had great success in 2019 and in total Tigercat has registered 10 forwarders during the year, the same amount as for Gremo.
Year-old orders
Most forwarders delivered in 2019 have probably been ordered the year before, and therefore you could say that there is a delay in the market. In 2018, the manufacturers were unable to meet demands on the Swedish market, but this was better achieved in 2019. The difference between different companies’ market movements to a great extent reflect the companies’ ability to produce machines in sufficient quantity. For several years, the world market for CTL machines has been strong and growing, while manufacturing has remained relatively stationary. In 2018, Ponsse increased its factory capacity in Finland. This may have disturbed the delivery capacity in Sweden in 2018, but it now looks like they will deliver machines at the desired rate. Similarly, John Deere has been working on factory expansions during the past year which may have slowed down deliveries to Sweden, but John Deere is already signaling a strong 2020. Komatsu is about to build a brand new forest machine factory in Umeå. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the delivery capacity.
A continued increase in forwarder sizes
The average load capacity of the forwarders continue to increase in Sweden. The average forwarder in 2019 can hold 15 tonnes, which is an increase of half a ton compared to 2018. There’s an average difference of just over three tonnes between the average forwarder in the north and south of Sweden respectively. This difference that has remained relatively consistent in recent years, with the forwarders in the north of the country clearly being the largest.
32 different models – the largest at the top
If you look at the top list of most registered forwarder models, there are only larger machines at the top. Only six different machine models account for half of the Swedish forwarder market in terms of pure numbers: John Deere 1510G, Komatsus 855, 875 and 895, Ponsse Buffalo and John Deere’s largest forwarder 1910G. The most common of all forwarders is John Deere’s 15-ton forwarder, the 1510G, of which there were 43 registered machines in 2019. The first smaller forwarder to appear on the top list is Rottne F11D, taking eighth place with 19 machines registered. The Rottne F11 has now taken over the market position previously held by the classic Rottne forwarder F10. In total, 32 different forwarder models with load capacities of over 9 tonnes have been registered in Sweden in 2019.
Has Sweden reclaimed the CTL throne?
Sweden has long been the single largest CTL market in the world. That is, the country where most forwards and harvesters were sold specifically for harvesting according to the cut-to-length method (CTL). Some years ago, Russia surpassed Sweden in the number of new CTL machines delivered per year.
Data from the Finnish forestry market reveals that there are more harvesters being sold than forwards per year and that the situation is estimated to be similar in Sweden as well. In 2019, it’s estimated that more than 750 forwarders and harvesters were delivered to Sweden, and this certainly means that the Swedish CTL market is once again the world’s largest. In total, it is estimated that about 4 000 purpose-built forwarders and harvesters are sold in the world per year.
Here you can read about the Swedish forwarder market in 2018: https://nordicwoodjournal.com/editorial/swedish-forwarder-sales-2018/
Source: The information on the Swedish forwarder market is based on registration data from the Swedish Transport Agency. Data processed and analyzed by Skogsforum. Virtually all forwarders to roll into Sweden are registered, making this information reliable. NOTE that the information is regarding the registration of forwarders, not sales. Since there have been long delivery times on forwards, sometimes up to a year or more, the purchase of a machine may have happened long before the forwarder is registered. However, the time of registration should coincide well with the time of delivery. For harvesters, there is no registration statistics in Sweden, but registration data from Finland indicates that more harvesters than forwarders are delivered.
