Tractor sales drop 5 percent

In the first half of the year, tractor sales in Europe fell by about 5% compared to the first half of 2017. This is according to figures from industry association CEMA.

In the first half of this year, 30 tractors were sold in 69.260 European countries, according to figures from CEMA. However, the organization says that this does not provide a complete picture. This is because turnover decreased in the first quarter, while the question remained stable in the second quarter of 2018 (compared to the second quarter of 2017).

Peak from last year
To some extent, this is the result of the peak in December 2017, which was caused by the introduction of the new European legislation (as of January 1, 2018). The tractors that did not meet the new requirements had to be registered or put on the market before the implementation date. This resulted in a large number of pre-registrations at the end of 2017.

Incidentally, the increase in the number of sales in December last year is higher than the decrease in the first half of this year. It is therefore complicated to draw conclusions about the development of the market in the first half of 2018. However, CEMA does report that there appears to be a positive trend.

Differences between the countries
Sales in the 2 largest markets (France and Germany) fell by about 12%. Sales in Austria, Denmark, Italy and Spain decreased by 4%, 13%, 5% and 9% respectively. It is not clear what the impact of the introduction of the new law will be, which means that it remains difficult to get a clear picture, according to CEMA.

However, there were also a number of countries that showed growth. For example, sales of tractor units in Belgium rose by 19% and the United Kingdom showed an increase of 5%. Tractor sales in the Netherlands rose by 11%, although this picture may be distorted. This is because the Netherlands does not have a registration requirement. In most countries a tractor is sold if it is registered, but in the Netherlands that is not possible.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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