Positive balance for the year 2023 for Kuhn Romania

The financial performance last year looks very good for the Kuhn Romania company, which recorded a turnover in 2023 of 96.1 million euros, i.e. a 75% increase compared to 2022, the year in which the company was established by taking over in February of the Marcom RMC "94 society.

Răzvan Marcu, general manager of Kuhn Romania, said in a press conference, which he held yesterday at the company headquarters: "Much of this growth was generated by European funds. Practically, half of what was sold last year in Romania in the area of construction equipment was sold following purchases with European funds. In 2024 we have zero European funds allocated for the purchase of construction machinery, so practically the market will register a natural decrease, perhaps even forced by the lack of these funds".

Because of this, the head of the Kuhn Romania company estimates that the turnover for the year 2024 will be a maximum of 80 million euros, a decrease of 15% compared to the previous year, but he claims that this setback does not worry him because it was predictable following the allocation by the Union European Union of some funds for the purchase of classic construction machinery, the only allocations being for 100% electric machinery, which at the moment cannot be used on construction sites in our country.

Răzvan Marcu said that at the moment it is not viable to purchase such equipment, which costs 3 or even 4 times more compared to an equipment that works on the basis of fuel consumption. He specified: "Let's say that you purchase such a machine, but then you need a charger, which will have to be plugged into a power outlet. The vast majority of this equipment works in field sites. It may be a trend, my opinion is that it is not favorable, especially since in the respective construction sites in the field there are no sockets powered directly from the public electricity network. Then the only option is to come up with a generator to put all the diesel you have and run it to charge the electric excavator. In the end, you're still burning fuel. I don't know if in the same amount or less, but the lack of infrastructure at the moment is a problem for the use of some electrical construction equipment".

The general manager of Kuhn Romania showed that in the last 10-12 years, the company also sold equipment based on hybrid technology, especially from Komatsu, which is the only company in the world that has both an electrical component and a thermal component.

The representative of Kuhn Romania mentioned: "The respective equipment, which cost 350,000 euros each, was purchased by customers with European funds and had an 80% share of the market. But in use, the economy was 5-6 liters of fuel per hour, given that the equipment is used 3500 hours per year, which means an annual saving for the beneficiary between 24,000 and 27,000 euros. Unfortunately, the current European funds no longer finance the purchase of hybrid machines, but only 100% electric machines".

Răzvan Marcu also said that last year there was a decrease in the number of bulldozers sold in our country. He stated: "The main product sold in the market was for many years, from 2003 onwards, the bulldozer, which is found everywhere in our country. It was the most popular equipment, but in 2023 we recorded the first decline in the sale of bulldozers in our country. Practically the domestic market is starting to follow the western trend. Our colleagues in Western Europe have warned us about this since 2006, 2007, but last year was the first time we recorded a decrease in bulldozer sales. Although we had a total demand of 1000 units in 2023, basically the sale of backhoes was overtaken by mini excavators, which together with compact front loaders do about the same thing. But by purchasing the two machines, we are witnessing a transition from a poorer market to a more developed market where the speed of execution, the finesse of the work, the execution time are important".

We mention that the Kuhn Romania company sells in our country equipment of the big international companies Komatsu, Grove, Potain, Dieci, Mantsinen, Morooka and McCloskey.

Răzvan Marcu told us: "We recently delivered 11 equipment from Morooka for regularization of rivers, for interventions in floods and so on, because we are talking about intervention machines. In two weeks we start the installation of two Mantsinen portals, material handling machines in the Port of Constanţa, following the new funds that have been approved for the port. There is an investment plan to be made over the next two years and we will deliver seven pieces of equipment of this size, each weighing over 200 tonnes. We're talking about some giants. We have been working for about a month to pick them up in Port Constanţa. They are the first truly modernes equipments, from Constanţa Port, extremely efficient".

In addition to selling machines, Kuhn Romania also provides their service. Răzvan Marcu stated: "We operate exactly on the SMURD principle. When there is a problem with a piece of equipment and we are called by the customer, we immediately check which resource is free and the closest and most qualified to intervene, and we quickly send it to the location of the machine to get the machine back up and running."

Regarding the challenges for the current year, the Kuhn Romania representative highlighted two: the lack of European funds for the purchase of construction machinery and the lack of specialized labor.

Răzvan Marcu mentioned: "For us, the challenges are represented by the complete lack of European funds - which brought fantastic capital to the country necessary for the purchase of modern technology, the elections that take place in 2024. An acute problem is the lack of technical schools in especially in the area of mechanics. We are not finding young people to come and join the field teams. At the same time there is a low number of service engineers available and obviously they are getting old and we have nowhere to take other colleagues. The preference of young people for office work instead of field work seems very serious to me. I understand, but we already have too many vacancies in the field and no vacancies in the offices. At some point those young people will have a problem: they won't find jobs. And then they will have to get to the field area. We also note that there are areas with less developed infrastructure. We are happy that it is being built, that we are umbilically tied to clients like Mr. Umbrărescu, who are moving at super speed, but there are areas in the country where it stagnates and it is very difficult to get from point A to point B".

His lordship also included among the challenges the limited financing for profile companies, stating that in our country there are not really such attractive financing options, as those in the West, to start a business or to support the business through banks or of leasing companies.