Last year was another good year for the industrial lift truck industry. Worldwide orders grew 12% in 2007, and sales revenue among the world’s largest industrial lift truck suppliers grew even more.

Most of the world’s top suppliers—including No. 1 ranked Toyota—experienced double-digit revenue gains last year. Combined industrial lift truck revenue from all 20 companies on Modern’s ranking list reached $31.67 billion in fiscal year 2007. That’s an increase of almost 22% over the fiscal year 2006 total of $25.99 billion.

Because we ask suppliers to report revenue figures in U.S. dollars, some of this growth is a result of increasingly favorable exchange rates. The euro, for example, gained 10% on the dollar between year-end 2006 and year-end 2007.

According to World Industrial Truck Statistics, Europe remains the largest market for industrial lift trucks. European orders grew 16% last year to 400,000 trucks. Asian orders grew 17% to 280,000 trucks.

America was the only region that experienced a downturn in lift truck orders. Orders from the Americas dropped 3.5% last year to 235,000 trucks. (For more worldwide statistics, see the table)

To be eligible for Modern’s annual top 20 ranking, companies must manufacture and sell lift trucks in at least one of the Industrial Truck Association’s seven truck classes. Rankings are based on worldwide revenue from powered industrial trucks during each company’s most recent fiscal year.

For the sixth consecutive year, Toyota tops Modern’s ranking as the largest supplier of industrial lift trucks. Toyota reported $7.8 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2007, up 20% from the $6.5 billion the company earned in fiscal year 2006. (In last year’s article, Modern listed Toyota at $5.51 billion. Toyota has since corrected that number to $6.5 billion.)

Kion Group, formerly known as Linde, maintains its No. 2 ranking with $6.35 billion in revenue. Rounding out the top five are Jungheinrich, NACCO Industries and Mitsubishi-Caterpillar.

Of these five largest companies, Jungheinrich experienced the greatest revenue increase. The majority of this growth took place in China and Russia, according to Jungheinrich spokesperson Kay Devlin. Toyota also attributes much of its sales growth to the Chinese and European markets.

The growing Chinese market is clearly benefiting Chinese lift truck suppliers. The Hangzhou Forklift Truck Co. nearly doubled its revenue in 2007, growing from $242 million to $414 million. This growth bumped the supplier up one space in the rankings to No. 15.

There was a minor shakeup in our rankings this year due to Nissan’s acquisition of Atlet. Nissan announced its plans to buy the Swedish lift truck maker in September 2007.

The press release announcing the deal said the acquisition is expected to allow both companies to benefit from the exchange of technology and manufacturing know-how and from joint purchasing opportunities. Nissan has continued to operate both brands and sales networks separately.

Nissan’s revenue increase from the acquisition moved the company up one spot to No. 8. The exit of Atlet (ranked No. 15 last year) shifted all the rankings at the bottom of the list and made room for a newcomer: Hubtex.

Hubtex (No. 20), a German supplier, specializes in lift trucks designed to handle long, bulky or heavy loads in narrow aisles.

Our list includes one new brand name: Hamech. Hamech (pronounced Hay-meck) is a new line of internal combustion lift trucks built by Komatsu and marketed, sold and serviced by Crown. (All Crown-brand lift trucks are electric.)

Crown and Komatsu signed the marketing agreement for the Hamech brand in January. According to Crown, the marketing agreement allows Crown dealers to offer a single brand of internal combustion lift trucks and a consistent level of aftermarket support.

Our list also includes a correction: Last year we listed Nippon Yusoki Co. (No. 11) as Nichiyu. Nippon Yusoki is the name of the company that produces Nichiyu brand trucks.

According to Stan Simpson, president of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA, www.indtrk.org), U.S. lift truck orders were down slightly in 2007, and the ITA expects order numbers to continue that slight decline in 2008 and 2009.

Despite the softness, Simpson says ITA members are not wringing their hands. “Compared to 10 years ago, it’s still a really great market,” he says, adding that U.S. orders and shipments are expected to be growing again by the end of 2009.

While the U.S. market is struggling a bit, the world market continues to grow. Simpson predicts worldwide lift truck orders will hit an all-time high in 2008.

The European market is projected to grow slightly this year, with many new orders coming from Eastern Europe, he says, and the Asian market will likely see dramatic growth. “We’re expecting a 25% increase from China,” he says.

With that projection in mind, Modern will be keeping tabs on emerging Chinese and Indian lift truck suppliers whose rapid growth could land them among the Top 20 next year.