At the last three day Euro Auctions sales in Leeds in October, over 3,559 lots were sold with a total of over €31m raised. Over the three days, there were significant numbers of agricultural equipment and plant machinery going under the auctioneer’s hammer with strong prices being achieved.

The strong euro value attracted a recordbreaking 1,800 bidders registering from both the UK and overseas of which 7% were first-time buyers. While the total number of lots was down slightly for this auction, the quality of the equipment combined with a stronger euro increased the interest from mainland Europe and internationally resulting in competitive on-site and internet bidding. When the dust settled, the total sale just fell short of their record overall hammer total achieved in August this year.

Historically, the Euro Auctions attract a good mix of construction equipment and agricultural machinery with buyers coming from countries such as Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and the Middle East, as well as attracting online bidders from all over the world.

Over the course of the three days, a large number of agricultural equipment and machinery went over the ramp, including 75 tractors such as John Deere, New Holland, JCB, Massey Ferguson, McCormick and Claas, 30 agricultural trailers and and 20 flat bed trailers.

There was also a lot of construction machinery sold, including 35 backhoe loaders, 38 skid steer loaders, 200 telehandlers and 60 excavators, along with other heavy plant equipment.

A high proportion of the machines sold went to mainland Europe and North America. The Middle East also proved a popular destination with almost 5% of all purchases destined to be shipped there to meet growing demands.

“While farming has been hit badly in the last couple of years, Euro Auctions has seen agricultural machinery prices improve throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe,” explains Euro Auctions operations manager, Jonnie Keys. “With grain and milk prices improving, there has been a definite improvement in machinery prices and values have noticeably been creeping up in the last six months.”

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Special focus: plant power