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Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) estimates that just over 291,000 commercial turf outdoor power equipment units were shipped – for the 2005 model year (September 2004 to August 2005). This is a 1.9-percent decrease from the previous year. However, a slight increase in total riding units comes partly from double-digit growth in front-mounted riders. OPEI says this is significant due to the fact that mid-mount mowers have not decreased for many years. The decrease in commercial mid-mounts may be attributed to the growth trend in consumer mid-mounts
In April, OPEI’s Economic Forecast predicted that significant growth in the market would wait until the 2006 Model Year. Commercial turf care intermediate walk-behind units are forecast to increase by 6.5 percent. Shipments of commercial riders also are predicted to outperform the overall industry and grow by 19.7 percent this year. Over the past 10 years, this has been the most dynamic product category in the entire industry, according to OPEI..
In the handheld market, shipments of total gasoline powered hand-held products for Model Year 2005 expanded 4.7 percent, reaching 13.2 million units. Each product category experienced different market fluctuations with some categories growing by as much as 27.9 percent (pole pruners), and others shrinking by 4.8 percent (hand-held blowers). Overall, most product categories experienced solid growth compared to the previous model year.
Hand-held products have been an integral part of the OPEI comprehensive shipments survey since 1997. This is the fourth year that OPEI has augmented its member data collection program with estimates for manufacturers that do not submit data, resulting in a true measure of the size of the market for gasoline powered hand-held power products.