JCB wins Brazil contract

JCB has won one of the biggest orders in its history — to supply more than 1,000 machines (worth over £60 million) to the Brazilian government. The Staffordshire company beat off competition from other global manufacturers to secure the deal for a fleet of back-hoe loaders, which will be used to improve the road system in Brazil.

The first 114 of the 1,016 machines have already been delivered, and the keys to one of them were handed over by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (pictured with Tarso Genro, governor of Rio Grande do Sul state) to Cleri Camilotti, the mayor of Três Passos.

The remainder — all due to be manufactured at JCB’s factory in Sao Paulo — will be delivered by the end of June. They will be used to improve and open up thousands of miles of secondary roads in communities that are heavily dependent on farming, to ensure that food gets to the market much quicker.

President Rousseff — the first woman to hold this position in Brazil’s history — said: “The back-hoes will solve the problem of the transit of goods.” Mayor Camilotti added: “For us mayors, receiving a back-hoe has the same importance as getting a house when we get married.”