Caterpillar Says China Demand Slowdown Even Worse Than Thought
- CEO says China demand reduced for key construction equipment
- Comments come as CAT posts gains across all major businesses
A Caterpillar crawler dozer.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Caterpillar Inc. added further confirmation to China’s downtrodden economic outlook, saying sales of its key machines used on construction sites across the world’s second-largest economy is even worse than the company forecast about three months ago.
Chief Executive Officer Jim Umpleby said during Tuesday’s earnings call that the company anticipates further weakness in sales of the machines most used for Chinese construction projects. The view follows the CEO’s downbeat comments on April 27, when he said the total share of sales from the Asian nation would be below its normal expected range of 5% to 10%.