Ritchie Bros. sold more than 2,900 lots at its most recent Moncofa auction, including a large selection of cranes, trucks, earthmoving, material handling and rental equipment. Of (euro)33 million (US$43 million) of equipment in the auction, (euro)20 million (US$26 million) sold to buyers from outside Spain.

"The atmosphere at the auction was fantastic," said Jeroen Rijk, Ritchie Bros. Divisional Manager. "There is so much talk about recession in Spain but we didn't see any evidence of it here last week. We had a record number of bidders at the site and prices were very strong across all categories of equipment and trucks. A lot of equipment is sitting idle or unsold in Spain, but not at Ritchie Bros. People come to our auctions from all over the world because we offer a huge selection of equipment and the certainty that it will all be sold on auction day."

Hector Martin, the owner of Telebombeo (the second largest concrete pump user in Spain), sold a large selection of concrete pump trucks, mixer trucks and boom trucks in the Moncofa auction.

"I needed to downsize my fleet in response to the changing demand in the local market," said Mr. Martin. "I chose to sell through Ritchie Bros. because I've sold through them before and I am confident they can attract a worldwide audience. Because so many buyers came to the auction from outside the local market, my equipment sold for prices above my expectations. Ninety percent of it will leave Spain."

The Montreal auction featured more than 1,600 items, including a large selection of transportation and mining equipment.

"The word recession had no meaning at our Montreal auction last week," said Jean-Marie Boucher, Ritchie Bros. Regional Manager. "We had a huge range of equipment in the auction and everything achieved strong prices - from rock trucks to over-the-road trucks to backhoes. There's a lot of construction going on in Quebec and the great selection of heavy equipment brought the locals out to bid, as well as many interested buyers from across Canada and internationally. Quebec buyers purchased CA$18 million of equipment; another CA$6 million worth went to Americans taking advantage of the favorable exchange rate."

driving through sacamento a couple of weeks ago and saw ritchies yard full of everything and many of the same units, more than any dealer could stock, i sure had a cow.

Well. That is something nice to hear. A positive thing. We all need some positive a this time. Hope it spreads south real soon.

The owner of the shop and me went out to RB in Moreno Valley the other month, first time experience for the both of us. I personally thought everyone there was very polite and professional. The purchasing system seemed very simple and easy plus organized for how fast things moved. It was a good experience and fun to see. We ended up buying shop lights and a steam cleaner J