Ritchie first sale in Japan

Industrial auctioneer Ritchie Bros held its first auction in Japan on 27 January.

The Mayor of Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, opened the new permanent auction site where more than 550 bidders registered from Japan and 32 other countries. They bought more than 300 pieces of equipment in the unreserved auction.

Ritchie now has 41 auction sites worldwide. "As we have expanded our global footprint around the world we have seen a lot of our customers sourcing equipment from Japan. These same customers have been asking us to hold our unreserved public auctions here in Japan too. So, after many years, we are pleased to now be able to service local Japanese consignors and our global buyers from this great Narita facility," said Rob Mackay, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers president.

The new Narita site is about 67,000 square metres and the next auction there will be 27 May 2010 as the second of a planned three or four sale a year at the site.

Total Ritchie Bros sales in 2009 were US$3.5 billion, from 336,000 bidder registrations and 283,000 items sold.