Each quarter, the Swedish forwarder market* is analyzed by Torbjörn Johnsen who works for the two sister sites iSkogen.se and Skogsforum.se. The conclusion per 30th of September 2021 is that the market has cooled off and is back to a normal level after a period of sales records.
The Swedish Forwarder market
259 forwarders were registered in Sweden during the first 9 months of this year. That indicates a total of 340-350 machines for 2021 which corresponds well to a normal year before the record year 2020 with 451 forwarders registered.
Lack of components a problem?
There is, however, a difference between registration and sales. The machines are sold a long time before they are delivered but the registration tale place by delivery. According to machine manufacturers, we spoke to there are similar problems within the forest machine business as in other businesses: problems to get components of different kinds, which delay the production.
Both electronic and hydraulic components are difficult to receive in the desired volumes. If the supply chain from sub-contractors would have been normal we most likely had seen more registered forwarders than we do now.
Photo: Deere.se
Green dominance
One company that doesn´t seem to have any delivery problems is John Deere Forestry. They have strengthened their domination on the Swedish market and now hold all three podium positions on the market. They have even delivered more machines this year than during the same time last year. Their market share for forwarders in Sweden is now 48,3 % which is the highest share since our analyzes started in 2005.
The top three forwarders are the John Deere 1510G, who is back on the top position, the John Deere 1910G, that for a short period was No 1, and the new one on the podium the John Deere 1010G who just about passed the Komatsu 855 and Ponsse Elephant King who now shares the fourth place.
Cooperation with schools
Since a few years back the major forest machine manufacturers cooperate with the Swedish forest machine educators. Instead of letting the schools invest in expensive machines, they rent the machines per hour directly from the manufacturers. In this model, the machines are switched to new ones already after one year, and the school machines are sold to contractors at a fair price.
It´s quite common that they deal with the contractor is made already before the school receives the machine. The schools have the advantage of always having the latest machine models for their students. Q3 this year seems to include many such deals with schools as many machines from John Deere and Komatsu are registered on the manufacturers who own the machines during the school year.
All figures for Q3 2021
Here below is a chart that shows registered forwarders in Sweden per brand Q1 – Q3 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, and also the full year 2020.
Here you can read the report for Q1 2021, and
here you can read the report for Q2 2021.
* In Sweden, all forwarders are registered by the authority Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen). As the Swedish market for CTL machines is the largest in the World (2020), those figures give a fairly good picture of the total market for CTL machines. The harvesters are, however, not registered by the Transport Agency, but the number of manufactured harvesters follows the number of forwarders in most cases.
