New tractor registrations down 14% on 2021

New tractor registration figures in March have made a small recovery from the start of the year, but are still lagging on the first quarter last year, according to new figures from the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).

The figures show that 244 new tractors were registered in March. Although only up five units on the same month last year, this marked the first month in 2022 where registration figures surpassed 2021 figures.

Despite this, new tractor registrations for the year to date are down 14% on the same period last year.

A total of 887 new tractors have been registered in the first three months of this year, down from the 1,036 units a year previous.

Highest levels

The three counties with the highest levels of registrations over the first three months were Cork (116 units), Tipperary (71 units) and Wexford (60 units). Leitrim (three units) and Sligo (eight units) were the two counties with the lowest level of registrations.

The 101 to 140hp range is the horsepower band with the highest level of registrations – 530 units. This accounted for 43.97% of all registrations in the first three months.

During the period in question, only 10.26% (92 units) of all tractors registered were of 100hp or less, 35.52% (315 units) were between 140hp and 200hp, while 10.05% (91 units) were over 200hp.

Northern Ireland

According the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), there were 67 machines registered in Northern Ireland in March 2022, down from 97 machines a year before. That brings the total for the year to date to 177 new tractors, down 9% when compared with 194 units in the same January-March period in 2021.

UK

Figures from the (AEA) show that UK registrations of agricultural tractors were once again slightly below last year’s level in March, down 5.2%. However, as March 2021 saw the highest number of registrations for any month since 2012, it isn’t overly surprising. Although this year’s total to date of 1,976 new tractors was only 5% lower, it was almost 20% higher than the average for the time of year between 2016 and 2020. Registrations for the year to date were 7% lower than in the first quarter of last year but 8% above the recent average, at 3,047 machines.