Tractor figures

It is timely as yearend approaches to review the latest FTMTA figures for the registration of new tractors.

The November figures showed a drop on the same month in 2013, with 39 units registered against 60 in 2013. That said, the overall registrations for the year to the end of November are up on 2013 with 1,923 units; there were 1,860 new units registered in the same period of 2013 and 1,879 in the full year. Allowing for the traditional low activity in December, it is reasonable to expect that there will be about 1,935 units registered during the full year, an increase of 3% on last year.

Any improvement in the market must be welcomed but such a market size still represents a challenging environment. That said, while new tractor registrations hit a modern high of in excess of 5,000 units in 2007, they fell to slightly over 1,300 machines in 2010 and when compared to that low level, recent years represent a recovery. While the turmoil in commodity prices has caused unease among the industry and customers, it is to be hoped the recovery will strengthen in the coming years.

Cork continues to be the county with the most registrations, with 240 new units. The merged registration areas of Tipperary represent the second highest, with 163 units, and Wexford has seen 141 registrations during the first 11 months of the year.

In the second year of the split registration periods, starting in January and July, July is now a significant month in the tractor trade, in a similar fashion to the motor trade. January continues to be the busiest month with 381 registrations, but July was a strong third with 255.

Season’s greetings

The outgoing FTMTA president Conor Breen, the FTMTA executive council and chief executive Gary Ryan extend their best wishes for Christmas and the new year to member firms, their staff and customers.