Following the small year-on-year increase in new tractor registrations (+50hp) recorded in November 2020, the upward trend continued into December with 776 machines registered, representing an increase of 25% compared with December 2019, according to figures released by the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA).
The AEA have also adjusted the figures for the whole year following a reconciliation exercise undertaken with the DVLA which revealed that 425 machines were missing from information supplied to the AEA. With those units added in, the annual total of tractor registrations in 2020 is confirmed as 10,380 units, still not enough to improve on the previous year’s figures. Indeed, the revised total is 14% down on registrations recorded in 2019.
There is no doubt that new tractor sales in the first half of 2020 suffered significantly due to the impact of Covid-19. Production plants across Europe were temporarily closed and, even where they stayed open, supply chains were disrupted. The extreme weather in late 2019 and 2020 also had an adverse effect on sales. This ‘perfect storm’ resulted in registrations for the first seven months of the year being 24% lower than in the same period of 2019. For the final five months of the year, registrations were 11% higher than in August to December 2019 and from September onwards volumes were slightly above the average of recent years. Ultimately, however, registrations for the whole of 2020 were similar to those recorded in 2015 and 2016, the lowest of recent years.
Latest tractor brand performance comparisons
The AEA have also just released their latest brand-by-brand analysis of market share in the UK agricultural tractor market. The latest information is for 2019 because competition rules dictate that the figures can only be released one year in arrears.
Although the figures published represent registrations and not sales, they provide a solid indication of purchasing trends.
While John Deere and New Holland maintained their top two status, both brands saw a reduction in registrations over the previous year, with John Deere recording 240 fewer units and New Holland down by 217 units. The brands that achieved the biggest growth in 2019 were Claas, Massey Ferguson and Kubota.
The top 10 brands in 2019 were as follows.
|
Tractor Brand |
Market Position | Units Registered | % Change from 2018 | Market Share % |
| John Deere | 1 | 3800 | -5.9 | 28.1 |
| New Holland | 2 | 2314 | -8.6 | 17.1 |
| Massey Ferguson | 3 | 1665 | +23.5 | 12.3 |
| Case IH | 4 | 1204 | -19.7 | 8.9 |
| Fendt | 5 | 921 | -0.3 | 6.8 |
| Kubota | 6 | 887 | +18.9 | 6.5 |
| Claas | 7 | 778 | +47.3 | 5.7 |
| Valtra | 8 | 749 | +12.6 | 5.5 |
| JCB | 9 | 278 | -7.6 | 2.1 |
| Same Deutz Fahr | 10 | 243 | +16.5 | 1.8 |
| Others | – | 706 | – | 5.2 |
