The UK’s Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) reported that for the first and only time during 2024, the number of new agricultural tractors (over 50hp) registered in December was higher than in the same month the year before. At 791 machines, the monthly total was 14% higher than in December 2023 and was also 5% above the average for the time of year over the previous five years. That brought the annual total to 10,241 machines, 13% down on the figure for 2023.
New tractor registrations were only down 5% in the final quarter of 2024, compared with the equivalent period a year earlier, a much smaller decline than those seen in the previous three quarters (-14% in Q1, -13% in Q2 and -20% in Q3). AEA reported that it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary improvement or an indication that the industry is close to the bottom of the market. AEA said that it expects to know the full answer to this question by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Despite the uptick in the final month of the year, the total number of agricultural tractors registered during 2024 was the lowest in any year since 1998. The final figure of 10,241 machines was only fractionally below those seen in other recent low points, such as 2015, 2016 and 2020, though. It does break a run during which registrations fell between 11,500 and 12,100 in six out of seven years.
Month: 791 Units +14.1% change (compared with December 2023)
Full Year: 10,241 Units -13.3% change (compared with 2023)
