Continued recovery in tractor registrations in August
The latest figures issued by the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association in relation to registrations of tractors and other types of self-propelled machinery cover the period to the end of August and show a continuation of the recovery in registrations of new tractors seen in July.
The month of August saw the registration of 114 new tractors which was 6% increase on the same month in 2019. The total number of new tractors registered from January to August this year stands at 1,626, a year on year decrease of some 8%. Given the dramatic decreases seen during the second quarter, with year on year registrations down by as much as 13% at the end of May, the improving situation is to be welcomed and seems indicative of an underlying stability in the market.
Cork, Tipperary and Wexford remain the three counties with the highest levels of registrations for the year thus far with 225, 116 and 110 units registered respectively. These three counties represent 28% of all registrations so far this year. Monaghan with 12 units and Leitrim with 13 units are the counties with the lowest levels of registrations to date.
The horsepower band with the highest level of registrations during the first eight months of 2020 is the 101 to 120hp with 511 units or over 31% of all registrations. Over 88% of all tractors registered in the period under review had over 100hp, 57% had over 120hp and nearly 30% had over 150hp.
Teleporter registrations, after an improved July, fell back again in August with 28 units registered in comparison to 33 units last year. A total of 299 such machines have been registered from January to August a drop of over 26% on 2019 when 406 teleporters had been registered by the end of August. Cork, Meath and Tipperary with 56 units, 52 units and 31 units registered respectively are the three counties with the highest levels of teleporters registered during 2020.
Registrations of wheeled loaders had a second consecutive strong month with 11 units registered August, up from 5 units last year. There have been 94 units registered in the first eight months of the year, up by 11 units on 2019.
Registrations of backhoe loaders have been much reduced during 2020, heavily impacted no doubt by the Coronavirus related restrictions of the second quarter, during which time no new machines of this type were registered. A total of 25 backhoe loaders have been registered up to the end of August, a considerable contraction on the 58 units by the same time last year.
There was one further registration of a self-propelled forager during August, bringing the total for the year to the end of August to 33 units. Three further used imported machines were also registered during the month bringing that total to 6 units.
A further three new combine harvesters were registered during August, bringing the total for the year so far to 38 units as against 45 in the full year of 2019. An additional six used imported combines were also registered during August to bring the total of such machines to 20 units.
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