Tractor registration figures for 2018 totalled at approximately 177,000, according to European agricultural machinery representative CEMA. This was down 12% on 2017 due to changes in EU legislation that were introduced on 1 January 2018.

This saw all tractors that were non-compliant with new regulation pre-registered in 2017. This led to a peak in registrations for December 2017 without an increase in underlying demand, as mostly likely these pre-registered tractors would have been sold throughout 2018.

December 2017’s peak naturally led to a lower than normal number of registrations for the first quarter of 2018. This may have just been in terms of registrations not in terms of sales. Throughout 2018, registration trends started to recover with peak registrations in the second and fourth quarters, similar to previous years.

Most popular power category

Higher numbers of tractors over 175hp were registered in 2018 than previous years, despite the high numbers of pre-registrations in 2017.

Tractors below 175hp were down significantly, partly due to 2017’s high pre-registrations in categories below 175hp. It can be observed from Figure 2 that higher numbers of tractors over 175hp are being purchased each year now, while the tractor market below 100hp shows volatility in terms of demand.

Tractors under 100hp show volatility in terms of demand when compared to tractors over 100hp \CEMA

Largest market

Registrations in Germany and France declined 12% and 9% respectively due to the impact of pre-registrations.

Germany forecasts sales to slow down slightly for 2019, while France is more optimistic for the year ahead, according to CEMA.Italy faced a lower demand in tractors for 2018, while 2019 is forecast to remain stable.

UK market

The UK market had a good year in 2018, with tractor demands increasing by 1%. Arable equipment saw 15-20% more units sold in 2018 in comparison to 2017.

Forecast for the current year depends mainly on the outcome of Brexit negotiations. CEMA explained that, throughout the EU, declines were common in tractor numbers registered for 2018 in comparison to 2017. Belgium saw a decline of 6%, Austria 19%, Turkey 43%, Denmark 20% and the Netherlands 5%.