“Euro Auctions continues to prove they are Europe’s number one auction house. In the last seven weeks, Euro Auctions conducted four UK sales, two at the flags-ship site in Leeds, one in Dromore, Northern Ireland, with an off-site sale for Contractors Plant Hire in Hampshire. In all over 17,000 pieces of heavy plant and construction machinery went under the hammer with a sale total of £134 million, with an inventory that included over 2,500 excavators.” Chris Osborne - Euro Auctions Sales Manager reports.

The extraordinary series of sales over the recent seven weeks culminated in Euro Auctions flagship sale at Leeds on 26th to 29th April, where 692 vendors from 26 countries consigned 6,743 lots to this auction  which  achieved a staggering hammer total of £60.16 million. Floor bidders on the day contributed £17.13 million to the sale with £42,997 million online and £1.4 million in the timed sale.

A truly international auction, registered bidders from 99 countries took part in this sale with the top buying countries being: UK, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Romania. Buyers from North America are still evident at all sales as buying in the UK represents good value and they are taking multiple machines off the ramp with a single bid. Bidding well at this sale were buyers from the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and South America.

With a complex world market for used construction plant and machinery, the dynamics of a sale like Leeds never ceases to surprise with the Leeds sale being hailed as the window to the global market, Chris Osborne, Euro Auctions Sales Manager, provides the following industry insights.

“The used plant and machinery market has been very buoyant during the last six months and whilst the Euro Auctions team continue to attract consignors to each sale, it is widely considered that the 6-weekly sale at Leeds is the number one auction in Europe. Right through Covid we have continued to maintain stocks of machines for sale, and once one sale ends, the Leeds yard is filling up for the next sale. So, regarding Leeds, what are the trends, who is buying and who is selling.”

Small Contracting Machines

“General contracting is very buoyant right now and we are seeing a lot of good mini diggers, 8t, 10t and 20t excavators on the market, in addition to lighter site machines which are in abundance. OEMs are delivering new machines and as such, buyers are now rationalising fleets, downsizing and normalising their stock holdings and Euro Auctions are attracting those customers as consignors, disposing of their old machines.”

24% of Machines Sold were 2018 to 2023 Plate

“OEMs are now supplying, and dealers disposing of used machines in a swop for new, we continue to see good late machines at all auctions. Euro Auctions are attracting those fresh machines and we are still amazed that many in the industry fail to comprehend the breadth of choice in the industry of late plate machines at all Euro Auction sales. At this April sale, the volume of excavators, dozers, crushers & screeners, dump trucks, loaders, telehandlers, back hoes and manlifts, that were 2018 to 2023 plate machines, represented 24% of all machines sold in those categories. That is the calibre of the equipment that Euro Auctions can push over the ramp at each sale and that is why consignors sell with us.”

Export

“Machines for export are selling well, with a lot of the older equipment, around 10 years plus, holding strong values. Typically going to Spain or Portugal, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey, who are rebuilding after the earthquake, as well as the Ukraine, where generators and excavators are in demand. 

“The Dutch, some of the largest and most prolific dealers of plant and heavy machinery in Europe, are bidding hard and buying kit for resale elsewhere in Europe. The feedback from Dutch buyers is that good machinery is becoming harder to buy in central Europe and with Euro Auctions offering such choice and breadth of make, model, year and price, Euro Auctions Leeds is the place to shop. At this sale Dutch buyers bought £4.4 million worth of kit. Other continuing trends include buyers in Romania supplying to the Ukraine, with Italy feeding machines into Turkey.“

Confidence & Trust in Euro Auctions 

“Confidence in Euro Auctions continues to soar, with a reputation for presenting good stock for sale. In the last six months sales managers have continued to be offered good consignments and whilst the market may change at any moment, we still see strong loyalty to the Euro Auctions brand. With 6,500+ machines being sold, ‘sale on sale’ our consignors trust us to get best price for their machines. With the April sale concluded we already have 1,500 fresh machines queuing up in the yard for the next sale in June. So, the cycle continues and without our consignors this would not be possible, whom we thank for choosing to sell with Euro Auctions.”