Engine sales also improved for Caterpillar but not as much as machinery sales.

Caterpillar says total engine sales grew 23 percent.

Last month, the maker of yellow-and-black mining and construction equipment said its fourth-quarter net income more than quadrupled to $968 million as its sales surged 62 percent to $12.8 billion.

The Peoria, Illinois, company said machinery sales were strongest in North America, where sales grew 58 percent from a year earlier, and Latin America, where sales surged 56 percent.