JCB wins order for 1,000 machines from Brazil

Backhoe loaders will be made at its new factory in Sao Paulo

Construction giant JCB has secured a £40 million order from the Brazilian government for more than 1,000 backhoe loaders.

The contract will be handled at JCB's new factory in Sao Paulo but will also bring benefits to its transmissions and axles factory in Wrexham and its headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire.

Now sold in 120 countries, JCB's backhoe loader was first made in Rocester in 1953 and recently achieved a 500,000-production milestone.

The 1,000 machines ordered by Brazil's ministry of agrarian development will be put to work improving rural roads to ensure food produced for sale gets to market quicker. A similar number were delivered to the same customer last year.

JCB chief executive Alan Blake said it was an important deal for JCB: “It is huge testament to the quality and versatility of JCB's backhoe loaders and it's fantastic to win an order of this size as we celebrate 60 years of backhoe loader production this year.”

Current production rates see one backhoe machine roll off one of the company's manufacturing lines every three minutes. Despite the maturity of the backhoe loader, it is still one of the world's biggest selling pieces of construction machinery.