Figures released by The Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) show that used tractor registrations are down 45.3% for the year to date, with just 925 second hand tractors registered in the first four months of 2022, as compared to 1,691 units in the same period in 2021. This marks a steep decline in used tractor registrations for the year to date.
Recent FTMTA statistics also indicate that new tractor sales continue to lag behind 2021 levels, down 12% with 1,100 tractors registered so far in 2022, compared to 1,252 units registered last year. Last month, April 2022, the new tractor market stood at 213 units, 1% lower than compared with the same month in 2021.
Cork continues to deliver the highest number of new tractor registrations at 151 units for the year-to-date, while Tipperary is ranked in second, followed by Wexford with 85 units and 74 units, respectively. The most popular power band is the 101 to 120hp category, accounting for 23.91% of all registrations. Tractors in the band lower than 100hp now account for 10.27% of all new registrations. The over 200hp category accounts for 9.91% of registrations.
The local market for new telescopic loaders remained strong in April 2022, while the April registration figures are 36% lower than April 2021, the overall year-to-date trend shows an increase of 3.91%. The two leading brands account for over 57% of the total market. There were 30 new telescopic loaders registered in April 2022 compared with 20 used first-time registrations.
The Irish wheeled loader market recorded a 47% reduction in new registrations in April 2022 compared with April 2021, while the year-to-date market declined by just 1.15%.
Figures show that there is a growing dominance in the market of Chinese manufactured machines at the lower power end of the market for farmer use. Machines of Chinese origin now account for almost 60% of the new wheeled loader registrations in Ireland.