The global surface mining equipment market is on fire. Industry executives estimate as many as 300,000 new active machines will be added over the next few years. According to a recent report by GlobalData, the global mining industry will be operating around 240,313 vehicles by the end of 2025. This sum excludes trucks and includes excavators, shovels, loaders, graders and dozers that are typically used at the mine site. This represents a big increase from the 173,885 machines counted at the end of 2024.
Trucks are the key to this expansion as they make up 61% of all in-use equipment. Medium duty trucks with payload sizes under 50 tons constitute 94% of the market. Yet they represent only 6% of all vehicles but 35% of trucks. Moreover, trucks with payload capacities between 100 and 199 tons make up 34% of the fleet. That’s the big picture. The trend overall is to increasingly trust trucks to conduct mining ops.
The Asia Pacific region is the largest surface mining equipment market, accounting for 60% of the worldwide surface mining equipment market. China’s dominance over the market is due almost entirely to the country’s massive mining operations. The Middle East and Africa only represent 9% of the machines. This figure serves to underscore their relatively paltry presence in the sector.
Our forecasts imply that the overall active machine park will keep increasing, climbing to just under 238,776 expected by 2030. That’s a CAGR of just 2% from 2025 to 2030. In the Asia Pacific region, the amount of operational machines is projected to double in just over a decade. It’s expected to increase from 173,885 in 2024 up to 170,982 in 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.5% over that time span.
The full fleets passive OR accelerating fleet 216615 machines in 2025. By contrast, it was just 155,976 in 2024. Such data highlights the increasingly competitive and dynamic state of surface mining equipment as material demand surges amid continued industry consolidation and other trends.
“Global Surface Mining Equipment: Populations & Forecasts to 2030 (2025 update)” – GlobalData