Caterpillar:China Excavator Sales At Record Levels

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Chairman and Chief Executive James W. Owens said Wednesday that the company's excavator sales in China had resumed record levels in recent months, a sharp bounceback from plummeting sales over the winter months. Excavator sales in China for the Peoria-Ill.-based heavy equipment maker had been around 600 a month before the start of the financial crisis last September, Owens said. Sales quickly plummeted thereafter and many orders were canceled, he added. 'In January, I think we sold five,' he said, in an appearance at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Owens said the company's overall Asian sales had been up 42% in the third quarter. For the fourth quarter, he said, there was almost a 'complete seizure' of sales and heavy cancellations of back orders. Owens said excavator sales in China were 'back to record levels in March/April.' He declined to say whether the record level matched the 600-a-month figure from before the crisis. Owens said the Chinese market had 'bounced back faster than anywhere else.' He credited China's infrastructure-based stimulus package with the turnaround. He said China continued to have great needs for infrastructure and was able to start work on them much more quickly than similar projects in the U.S. 'It's something like nine months (in the U.S.) vs. 9 weeks' in China, he said. Last week, Caterpillar reported sharply lower earnings and sales for the first quarter and lowered its outlook for the year. Joe Barrett