The month of June saw something of a recovery in new tractor registrations in the UK. According to the Agricultural Engineers’ Association, 932 tractors (+50hp) were sold last month. Whilst this is a vast improvement on the figure of 586 tractors sold in May, June registrations still showed a 15% decline when compared with the same month last year.
This downward trend is underlined when you look at the bigger picture of tractor sales across the first six months of the year. From January to June 2020, tractor sales totalled 5,195 units, compared with the same period in 2019 when 6,902 units were registered. That’s a decrease of 1,707 units, equivalent to a 25% drop in tractor sales. The continuing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and Brexit together with adverse weather have combined to create the perfect storm and demand for new tractors has suffered as a result.
However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Against the backdrop of an easing of pandemic-related restrictions, the impact on delivery times is reducing as manufacturing and assembly in factories across Europe gets underway once more and tractors are once again coming off the production lines, albeit in reduced numbers. In this context, if you’re more of a ‘glass half full’ person, the figures for June will hopefully herald the start of a real recovery in the UK tractor market.
