Over 600 bidders, 100 of them from outside Ireland, bought some €1.2m worth of machinery at the FTMTA auction in Punchestown last Saturday.

The trade was exceptionally strong for smaller items, with larger machines such as big horsepower tractors, forage harvesters and combines selling for better value.

The overseas bidders included people from England, The Netherlands and eastern Europe, mainly Romania.

FTMTA chief executive Gary Ryan said the auction shows that there is a strong demand for machinery.

“We had two goals coming into today. We wanted to turn cash for our dealers who had stock lying around the yard and we felt this auction would provide people with realistic values of machines.”

Read more

In pictures: FTMTA auction deemed a huge success

In pictures: €1.2m worth of machinery sold at massive FTMTA auction