Better than 2002 but certainly not as strong as 2001. That about sums up the state of industrial lift truck sales worldwide as 2003 closes out. This view was presented at the Industrial Truck Association's (www.indtrk.org) annual meeting.

Through the first three quarters of this year, lift truck bookings in the U.S. and Canada were up 1.5%, according to Jim Moran, president of the Industrial Truck Association and senior vice president of Crown. Moran is calling for a tougher fourth quarter, however, with a year over year decline in bookings of 2.6%. That will bring bookings for the entire year in just 0.4% better than 2002.

Growth of lift trucks in Europe was barely 1.0% through August of this year, according to Dr. Hans-Peter Schmohl, president of the Industrial Truck Division of Europe's FEM and a member of the executive board at Linde AG. Eastern Europe, however, outshone other countries, posting a growth rate of 19.9%. Meanwhile, lift truck sales in France, Italy and the Netherlands dropped by 4.4%, 4.9% and 1.1%, respectively, says Schmohl.

In Japan, the first half of 2003 ran 3.9% ahead of 2002, according to Takeo Shibuya, president of the JIVA, the truck association in Japan, and chief executive officer at Komatsu. Growth in the second half of the year is expected to come in slightly behind that of the first half. Shibuya projects an overall growth rate of 3.0% for all of 2003 in Japan.