Indonesia curbing nickel supply to support locals, Eramet says
The French miner was this year given a sales quota by the Asian nation that was 29% less than it expected.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) said Thursday that its slumping retail machine sales in Asia suffered an even sharper drop in the three months through May due to ongoing spending cuts at mining companies.
The world’s largest construction and mining equipment manufacturer reported in a filing that resource industry sales in the Asia/Pacific region were down an average of 69% compared to the same period a year earlier.
Such sales in Latin America fell an average of 63% in the period from their levels during the same three months the year before.
But despite the dismal sales numbers, Caterpillar stock year to date is up almost 20% to $108.85, driven by cost cutting, dividend increases and the mining sector’s cyclical nature, which has investors looking forward to a recovery.
Commodity price falls have caused miners to reduce spending, hitting the Peoria, Illinois-based company hard.
Bloomberg reports Caterpillar saying in April that sales of large mining trucks in the first quarter declined around 80% from their peak in 2012.
Rolling 3 Month Retail Sales Statistics
Figures from Form 8-K for CATERPILLAR INC. Retail sales of machines by geographic region for the 3-month rolling period ended as of the month indicated compared with the same period of the prior year.
Comments
Guest
This is not a huge surprise as Cat isn’t so much an equipment manufacturer, but instead and amazing marketing vehicle that happens to sell equipment.