By Janina C. Lim, Reporter
MONARK EQUIPMENT, Inc. is targeting to increase this year’s sales by nearly a tenth from 2017 as projects under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build Build” program are rolled out.
Monark Equipment Vice-President for Core Industries Manuel M. Martin said the group is targeting to hit P12 billion in sales by yearend, a 9% gain from 2017 sales.
The company’s portfolio consists of four segments namely, product support, rental sales, retail sales and mining business. Of these, the retail segment, bolstered by sales of construction equipment, made up a third of Monark Equipment’s portfolio last year.
Monark Equipment hoping to ride on the growth of the government’s massive infrastructure projects which are still in the early phase of construction.
“Ang mga projects nila is just starting to roll out so ngayon na nagpre-prepare yung mga contractors, namimili na sila ng mga gamit (The government’s projects are starting to be rolled out, so the contractors are preparing and buying equipment),” Mr. Martin told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a recent company event.
Citing the firm’s market research information, Mr. Martin said imports of construction equipment during the first quarter grew 30% from a year ago. For Monark Equipment alone, construction machine sales during the January to March period “almost” saw a double-digit growth.
The company has been seeing a 20% annual growth in the sale of construction equipment for the past three years, according to Mr. Martin.
“Hopefully, tumaas pa siya pag nag-full blast na lahat ng project ng government (Hopefully, this will increase once the government projects are fully implemented),” he added.
Responding to this development, Monark Equipment launched the so-called Next Generation 320 and 320 GC excavators which boosts efficiency with an integrated system of fleet, while reducing fuel consumption and maintenance cost.
Because of their versatility, excavators made up about 70% of Monark Equipment’s construction machinery sales, while loaders and graders accounted for the remaining 30%.
The growth logged in construction last year offset the lackluster performance in some industries, Mr. Martin said, noting that Monark Equipment is merely sustaining client-operators in their metal mining segment.
Asked if the clampdown on mining operations was to blame, Mr. Martin said the problems facing the sector are deeper than the regulatory headwinds.
“It’s just not the crackdown, locally. But if you’re going to look at it its more of global… ang production, di masyado malaki (the production is not very big),” Mr. Martin said.
“It never really grew. But the potential is really big,” he noted about the local mining sector.
But while that potential remains untapped, Monark Equipment is banking on the construction boom expected under the “Build, Build, Build” program.
Monark Equipment is the official dealer and importer of equipment manufactured by US-based Caterpillar, Inc. The firm also carries other major brands such as Tadano, Putzmeister, Terex, Genie, Gomaco and Powerscreen.
