The global forklift market was valued at USD 65.65 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% during the forecast period. The extensively growing e-commerce industry and continuous changes in warehouse management over the recent years drives the market. Moreover, growing prevalence of innovated forklifts owing to its ability to operate effectively in various challenging terrain and transportation of heavy construction supplies even for long distances along with the rapid expansion of large building projects globally are prominent factors propelling the market growth at rapid pace.
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In addition, warehouse owners worldwide are heavily focusing on lowering operational costs, enhancing plants efficiency, and increasing transparency by integrating newly developed forklifts by manufacturers with advanced features and capacities, thereby fueling the forklift market growth.
For instance, in April 2022, Toyota Industrial Equipment, announced the launch of its latest forklift management system named T-Matics, that includes dashboard-style and web-based reporting. T-Matics is developed with two different products including T-Matics MOBILE & T-Matics COMMAND, that works on the cellular signal & is optimal for the fleets in fixed locations.
With the rapidly growing technological advancements, there has been a significant potential for electric-powered forklift trucks owing to their rising applications in various sectors and popularity, as these types of forklift trucks are ideal for both outdoor and indoor spaces and can easily load or unload heavy loads from the docks and also from ground level.
However, a rapid surge in the demand for stacker cranes, that are widely used for pallet storage and retrieval in the rack systems, as it offers various operational advantages including easy movement in narrow aisles compared to the required space in forklifts and can facilitate goods at a higher vertical height, is key factor expected to hamper the global market growth and demand.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the growth of the forklift market. The emergence of deadly coronavirus around the world resulted in lockdown in various countries, high disruptions in the supply chain and logistics industry, and has also declined the manufacturing capacity of various countries because of the shortage of labor and low availability of required raw materials.
Growth Drivers
Rising demand for automated and lean warehouses across the globe to increase the operational efficiency and speed, as lean warehouses minimize the consumption of resources without reducing the overall productivity along with its other advantageous features include automatically travel and pick up/drop materials, are major factors expected to drive the global market growth over the coming years.
Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of modular solutions to optimize the customer productivity and ability to fill each customer differ requirements efficiently are also anticipated to fuel the market growth in the near future. Customers who steer higher and more in their operations requires a more conventional steering system and growing requirements of customers for spacious and more luxurious cabin, are likely to create lucrative growth opportunities for the market.
The market is primarily segmented based on class, power source, and region.
By Class |
By Power Source |
By Region |
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The class 3 segment accounted largest market share in 2021, and is expected to lead the industry throughout the forecast period owing to its increased awareness and popularity among warehouses and various distribution centers due to its lower based and low maintenance costs compared to others. Class 3 forklift segment includes the walk-behind truck, walk-rider truck, and walk-behind stackers that allows the transport of loads efficiently and also lift loads to a height of around 15 feet, which is likely to have a positive impact of the global market growth.
The class 1 segment is expected to grow at fastest growth rate during the anticipated period, which is mainly accelerated by the high demand for variety of electric rider trucks across several end-use sectors including retail stores, food service industry, chemical factories, and logistics. In addition, the rapid surge in the awareness regarding the ability of electric riser trucks across the globe, as they can easily fit in narrow spaces and further offer high operational speeds, that is influencing the demand and growth of the segment market.
The growth of the segment market can be mainly attributed to increased adoption of electric vehicles across both developed and developing countries owing to its lower maintenance costs as compared to the combustion-engine based vehicles and rise in the penetration for electricity-based vehicles as an eco-friendly alternative to the gasoline and diesel-powered forklifts. Additionally, various favorable government initiatives and high implementation on new product innovations by key market companies through increasing R&D investment are also likely to boost the market growth in the near future.
For instance, in November 2022, Hyundai Construction Equipment, introduced its latest next-generation, high performance B-X electric forklift. The newly developed electric forklift is redefining all standards for small-electric-forklifts market and are very cost-effective by applying lithium-iron phosphate batteries.
The internal combustion engine segment is further anticipated to exhibit significant growth over the coming years, on account of extensive rise in technological advancements in the fuel-cell powered vehicles, that results in enhancements like improved reliability, high power, and minimize the greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, several governments around the world are further imposing regulations to lower the impact of greenhouse or carbon emissions into the environment, that further encouraging OEMs and factory owners to shift towards gas-powered or electric vehicles.
The Asia Pacific region dominated the global market and accounted for majority market share in terms of revenue share in 2022, which is mainly driven by increased demand for modern material handling equipment across various industries such as mining, food & beverage, construction, among others and rising inclination of large manufacturers towards the plant automation. Moreover, APAC is being considered as one of the largest industrial production and manufacturing hubs, and especially China has emerged as leading manufacturing hub, which is creating high demand for forklifts in the region. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, average growth rate of industrial production index in China, was nearly 10.9% in December 2022.
However, the North America is expected to emerge as fastest growing region in forklift market over the projected period. The growth of the regional market is mainly due to the robust presence of prominent market players and heavily investing in adopting the advanced and innovated forklifts mainly in countries like US and Canada. Moreover, North America region also focusing on boosting manufacturing sector with the help of several new initiatives to expand its economy and recover from the pandemic slump, that is likely to create huge demand from the industrial sector in the near future.
Some of the major players operating in the global market include Anhui Heli., Crown Equipment Corp., Doosan Corporation, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Jungheinrich, KION Group, Komatsu, Mitsubishi Logisnext, Toyota Material Handling, Lonking Forklift, Hyundai Vehicle, Cargotec, Boyce Group, Mitsubishi Nichiyu Forklift, and Manitou Group.
Report Attributes |
Details |
Market size value in 2024 |
USD 74.29 billion |
Revenue forecast in 2032 |
USD 201.81 billion |
CAGR |
13.3% from 2024 – 2032 |
Base year |
2023 |
Historical data |
2019 – 2022 |
Forecast period |
2024 – 2032 |
Quantitative units |
Revenue in USD billion and CAGR from 2024 to 2032 |
Segments covered |
By Class, By Power Source, By Region |
Regional scope |
North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America; Middle East & Africa |
Key companies |
Anhui Heli Co. Ltd., Crown Equipment Corporation, Doosan Corporation, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc., Jungheinrich AG, KION Group AG, Komatsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. Ltd., Toyota Material Handling, Lonking Forklift Co. Ltd., Hyundai Vehicle America Corp., Cargotec, Boyce Group, Mitsubishi Nichiyu Forklift Co. Ltd., and Manitou Group. |
Key companies in forklift market are Anhui Heli., Crown Equipment Corp., Doosan Corporation, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Jungheinrich, KION Group, Komatsu, Mitsubishi Logisnext.
The global forklift market expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% during the forecast period.
The forklift market report covering key segments are class, power source, and region.
Key driving factors in forklift market are rising demand for automated and lean warehouses.
The global forklift market size is expected to reach USD 201.81 billion by 2032.