EDMONTON, Alta. – Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers held its largest Canadian auction of the year this past week, selling more than $207 million over the five-day event just outside Edmonton.

Running from April 24-28, the Nisku, Alta., auction attracted more than 14,000 bidders from 59 countries, including over 9,750 online bidders.

“Our auction in Edmonton last week featured some of the cleanest, low-hour equipment available on the market today, attracting a huge number of global buyers,” said Brian Glenn, senior vice-president, Ritchie Bros. “We once again saw strong participation from western Canadian registrants, bidding aggressively as they’re looking to purchase equipment for the spring construction season, resulting in strong pricing across most equipment categories.”

Approximately 89% of the equipment auctioned was sold to Canadian buyers, with 55% from Alberta. Buyers from the U.S. and other countries, such as China and the United Arab Emirates, made up 11%.

Fifty-eight per cent was sold online.

“Last week’s auction featured equipment from close to 1,300 consignors—which is a new company record for a single auction,” said Glenn. “This included complete dispersal packages from great western Canadian companies like NEC Construction and HiTrac Equipment and two big oilfield transportation packages of late-model rig moving equipment from H&E Oilfield Services and Cierra Trucking that attracted higher than average U.S. participation.”