Bharat Forge and
Ramkrishna Forgings were trading on a bullish note during Tuesday's trading session after the FTR Intel reported that the preliminary North American Class 8 net orders for March came in at 40,800 units - a record sixth consecutive month exceeding the 40,000-unit threshold.
At around 11.21 am, Bharat Forge was trading at Rs613 per piece up by 0.8% on Sensex. While RK Forgings was performing at Rs545 per piece higher by 6.2% on the same index.
However, the March 2021 orders were down by 9% compared to orders of 44,000 units of February 2021. Notably, the latest order was higher by more than 33,000 units over the pandemic-impacted March 2020.
Class 8 Truck sales record a nearly 6-folds jump in March 2021 compared to 7,211 units sold in March 2020.
Don Ake, VP of Commercial Vehicles at FTR said, "here is tremendous pent-up demand being generated due to the constrictions on supply. The pressure in the market is building, as orders continue to flow into OEMs at a record pace. To have this level of orders roll in for half a year is impressive and unprecedented."
Don Ake added, "The component shortages of semiconductors and other parts are causing problems throughout trucking. Fleets desperately need many new trucks right now to keep up with demand, but production throughput is being constricted. It appears the industry will be playing catch-up well into the first half of next year."
Further, Don Ake said, "There are no clear indications of when the supply-chain issues will be resolved. We expect computer chips to be in short supply for at least a few more months. Worker shortages at key suppliers should get alleviated some by the vaccines. The backup at the ports will also take a few months to resolve.”
Class 8 orders now total 372,000 units for the past 12 months, FTR reported.