Out in the field…February 2010

I’ve spent the past few days calling on customers in Alabama and Georgia.  Most were heavy equipment dealers and some were independent repair facilities.  At best, cautious optimism rules the day. 

The general sentiment seems to be that once the weather clears that logging activity will be up in the Spring over last year since the mills are in dire need of wood.  Once their needs are met, there seems to be some sense that the price of wood will drop and the logging segment will fall back to last year’s levels.

It was surprising to hear that several dealers had sold all of their Skidders and were waiting on delivery of more.  It was not a surprise to see how little new inventory was sitting on the lots.  The most sales activity seems to be with 2 and 3 year old equipment.

If there were bright spots, it seemed to be with equipment that moves dirt, whether it be for road construction or mining.  In general, the feeling was that 2010 may be the same as or just slightly better than 2009 and that the market won’t show marked improvement until 2011.

We want to know…what are you seeing in the markets you serve???