Caterpillar has forecast China’s construction equipment market to grow 10 percent in 2012 and also expects the yuan to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, Reuters reports. Caterpillar’s Asian group president Richard Lavin said he expects the market to grow at a significant rate for the foreseeable future.

China’s construction machinery market sales totaled 435 billion yuan (about U.S. $69 billion) in 2010 and were expected to rise about 15 percent in 2011, according to analysts.

Lavin recently expressed concern that there would be overcapacity in China in 2012 and 2013 and the company expected price pressure.

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a think tank, forecast China’s GDP to rise 8.9 percent in 2012 after an estimated 9.2-percent jump in 2011.