A small amount of market growth is forecast for trailers in Eastern Europe in 2026 but there will be more substantial increases in 2027-28, according to the latest 2026 forecast for the East European Heavy Goods Trailer Market from CLEAR International.
“The reasons for the weak demand in 2024/25 are tolerably obvious: The war in Ukraine has led to a fall in business confidence which has manifested itself as a lack of willingness to increase investment in new transport equipment such as trailers and heavy trucks,” writes Gary Beecroft, director of Clear International. “Another factor is the trade tariffs imposed by the US which have further damaged business confidence and led to the postponement or cancellation of the investment plans of businesses on a global basis.
“The war in Iran will have the same effect, as oil and gas prices rise as a consequence. This will result in inflation and the postponement of interest rate cuts across the region and elsewhere.”
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Market gains, slips
Of the four largest market for trailers in Eastern Europe, two saw falls in trailer registrations in 2025 and the other two had gains. Russia had the largest fall in trailer demand but that was on the back of large increases in 2023/24 related to the war in Ukraine. Turkey had a much smaller fall—in fact less than expected in 2025—following on from significant gains in 2020-23, according to the CLEAR report.
Poland and Lithuania had increased trailer registrations in 2025 as forecast in October, as did Bulgaria. For the region overall, trailer demand fell by 9,300 units—a fall that would have been larger but for the increase in demand in Turkey in the last few months of 2025.
The other East European countries covered in this report had 2025 sales tracking much as expected in the October forecast.
Long-term trends
2023 had record demand for new trailers, with the East European market exceeding 120,000 units for the first time. Turkey had “sensational levels” of trailer sales, the report notes. Arguably there are now plenty of new trailers in the regional fleet. It will take until 2028 for the trailer demand of 2023 to be surpassed.
Another dampening factor is that since the fourth quarter of 2022 the demand for road transport in Eastern Europe has stopped growing. It had been increasing in a linear fashion for the previous twenty years, but even Poland, which has the highest road transport demand in Europe, had a 2.7% fall in demand in 2023.
In the whole of Europe, this fall was only exceeded by Germany which had a fall of 5.8%. In 2024 road transport demand in the region was flat but for 2025 an increase of 1.1% is estimated.
Likewise import and export trade in Eastern European countries, measured in U.S. dollars, had been falling since 2022, but in the second half of 2024 trade first stabilized, then started to grow, meaning that further growth in the future is likely, with a rate of 5.2% estimated for 2025.
The outlook for 2026 is for a return to growth after a difficult environment in 2024-25.
Seven of the fifteen countries in the region will grow, in some cases substantial growth in percentage terms, and the falls in other countries will be minor with the sole exception of Bulgaria. That country had a huge gain in 2025 which will prompt a rebalancing fall in 2026. More substantial growth is anticipated across the region in 2027-28.
The East European Trailer Market Report (April 2026), with forecasts to 2030, can be obtained from CLEAR International by contacting Gary Beecroft by email at [email protected]. A new report for the Western European market was issued in March 2026. A Global Trailer Market Database is also available.
