The three top-selling brands in the Republic of Ireland in 2022 were John Deere (26.64%), Massey Ferguson (18.07%) and New Holland (15.25%), according to figures from the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).
The trio accounted for 59.96% of all tractor sales, or a total of 1,274 tractors of the 2,215 units registered in 2022.
Case IH came in fourth, accounting for 10.4% of the market, followed by Valtra (6.96%), Claas (5.08%), Fendt (4.05%) and Kubota (3.2%).
If we compare this to the previous year (2021), John Deere also led the way with a 20.75% share, followed closely by Massey Ferguson at 20.07% and New Holland at 17.62%. From 2021 to 2022, John Deere grew its market share in Ireland by 5.89%, Massey Ferguson dropped its share by 2% and New Holland lost 2.37% of its market share.
In the same 12-month period, Case IH grew by 0.51%, while Kubota, Fendt, Valtra, Zetor and JCB all recorded marginal increases. Meanwhile, we see brands such as Claas, Same-Deutz- Fahr, McCormick, Landini and Tumosan all recording minor drops in market share in the same period.
Northern Ireland and the UK
Meanwhile, UK data, which is supplied from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), shows that the top three most popular brands across the UK and Northern Ireland are the same, except there is a bigger gap between each. Once again, John Deere (30.4%) leads the way, followed by New Holland (16.3%), with Massey Ferguson (10.6%) falling into third position.
Year-on-year, we note that John Deere grew its market share by 5.1%, while New Holland dropped by 2.8% and Massey Ferguson dropped marginally. The top three manufacturers accounted for over 57% of all tractor sales, or a total of 7,459 tractors of the 13,017 units registered in 2022.
Fourth position was held by Case IH with a 9.7% share, followed by Kubota (7.3%), Fendt (6.5%), Valtra (5.2%), Claas (3.6%) and JCB (2.1%).
Taking Northern Ireland by itself, John Deere once again secured top position, accounting for 28% of the market. The year previous, it was New Holland who topped the polls in NI, accounting for 23.8% of the market.
New Holland this time polled second at 19.3%, followed by Massey Ferguson in third with 15.3%. Interestingly, Kubota is growing in Northern Ireland and now has 11.3% market share.
EU competition law
On competition grounds, trade representative bodies such as the FTMTA in Ireland or the AEA in the UK are not allowed to release data on what brands sold what number of new tractors until a 12-month period has elapsed. This is due to EU competition law restrictions. Thus, 2023 market share figures won’t be released by such trade bodies until January 2025.
