June 26th 1999

Ireland leads the world in tractor sales increase

Francis Quigley reports

Irish sales of new tractors last year showed the biggest growth in tractor sales worldwide. That is the finding of the survey compiled by the Dutch Trekker and Werktuig magazine.

The growth of 26 per cent in sales here last year from 1,840 to 2,310 units was followed only by The Netherlands and Brazil - both these countries showed an increase of 23 per cent.

Overall the world tractor market was up by 2 per cent, however the European market was down by just over 1 per cent.

The countries in Europe which fared out the best in 1998 after Ireland were Holland, then Belgium, which was up by 15 per cent, followed by Spain and Portugal, both up by 11 per cent.

On the other hand the UK was the worst performer as tractor sales dropped by a massive 37 per cent. Denmark also did very poorly; sales dropped by almost a quarter, 24 per cent.

Other countries where tractor sales showed a decrease were Norway and Austria, which were down by 13 and 12 per cent respectively.

New Holland was the clear market leader across Europe with a 20 per cent market share, which they have managed to maintain from 1997 to 1998. John Deere was in second place with14 per cent share of the European market. John Deere has managed to improve its market share by 2.5% from 1997 to 1998, with an increase in sales of over 3,000 tractors.

Massey Ferguson retained third position with almost half of the New Holland level of sales. Ireland was the only market in Europe where Massey Ferguson topped New Holland.

New Holland was market leader in ten of the fourteen countries in Europe, for which the Dutch magazine Trekker un Werktuig compiled the figures.

Among the four countries where New Holland failed to achieve the top position was Germany where the local manufacturer Fendt took a 20 per cent market share. Here New Holland had to settle for second place with 8 per cent.

In Finland it was a local manufacturer again who managed to oust New Holland to second place. Valtra Valmet held at 42 per cent.

And in Austria it was another local producer, Steyr, which took 27 per cent market share with New Holland again settling for second place.

Outside of Europe the major changes took place in Brazil where sales were up by 24 per cent. There was a huge downturn in South Africa, where sales fell by 37 per cent similar to Britain.