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 December registrations, giving a view of the full year picture for 2020.
The registration of new tractors during December rose substantially in comparison to the same month of 2019 with 26 units registered, more than double the figure of 12 units registered a year earlier. The December registrations bring the total for the year to 1,910 units, a drop of only 3% on 2019. Given the year that was in it, this was a credible performance by any measure.
Five counties reached triple digit levels of new tractor registrations during 2020; Cork with 262 units, Tipperary and Wexford with 130 units each, Meath with 109 units and Galway with 100 units. Monaghan saw the lowest level of registrations with 13 units.
The 101 to 120hp range was the horse power band with the highest level of registrations in 2020 with 603 units or nearly 32% of all registrations. During the year 87% of all tractors registered had over 100hp, 56% over 120hp and 29% over 150hp.
Registrations of used imported tractors continued the strong performance seen in previous months with 387 units registered during December. This was one of the highest monthly figures seen all year, second only to November, and was the highest such December in at least six years and probably longer. It seems likely that the exceptional level of December activity may have been driven by concerns around the post Brexit scenario in terms of sourcing used machines in the UK. A total of 3,010 used imported tractors were registered during 2020 which was only marginally behind the 3,045 units registered in 2019.
On competition grounds, FTMTA is not allowed to release tractor market share information for a given year until a full year later. On that basis, the Association can now release the market share breakdown for 2019 when a total of 1,968 new tractors were registered. The top five brands in terms of registration were:
- John Deere – 21%
- Massey Ferguson – 20%
- New Holland – 17%
- Case IH – 11%
- Claas – 8%
There were 5 telescopic loader registrations during December, in comparison to 2 units a year earlier. The December registrations brought the total of such machines registered during 2020 to 389 units, a year on year decrease of slightly more than 18% on the 476 such machines registered during 2019.
Wheeled loader registrations continued the good performance seen throughout 2020 with 8 units registered in December, up from 5 units in 2019. The total number of wheeled loaders registered during 2020 was 135 units, up 20 units on the previous year.
There was one registration of a backhoe loader in December; there had not been a registration of such a machine in December in the previous three years. The December unit brought the total for the year to 32, down sharply from 66 machines in 2019.
