After the increased demand for European manufactured agricultural machinery in the spring and early summer periods, demand deteriorated slightly in July for the second consecutive month, according to CEMA’s latest report.

Each month, CEMA (the association representing the European agricultural machinery industry) carries out a survey within the European agricultural machinery industry, covering all major sectors, to look at the current and future business situation. Within each month’s report, the association publishes a general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe (on a scale of - 100 to +100).

Following months of recovery, April marked the return to a positive index for the first time since mid-2023. However, having reached an index of +7 in May, it then dropped slightly to +4 for June and then to 0 in July.

Upon breaking down the different equipment segments within the July data, tillage and transportation equipment and components companies were those worst affected and the reason behind the index drop. This contrasted with June when harvesting equipment and tractors manufacturers were worst affected.

Market confidence

Despite CEMA’s business climate index decline, market confidence remains strong for most European markets. Spain, Poland and the UK lead CEMA’s market rankings, despite the confidence index being lower in both France and Germany within large equipement sectors.

For the most part, the Irish agricultural machinery market so far in 2025 has exceeded all expectations. The positivity is predominantly associated with grassland equipment sales and livestock farmers on the back of high farmgate prices in 2025. However, tillage equipment sales continue to be under pressure, on the back of the low forecasted grain prices.

A total of 61% of survey respondents consider their current business to be satisfying to very good, down marginally from 63% in June. Looking ahead, over the next six months 53% of respondents expect their turnover to remain unchanged, 35% expect it to grow, while 12% forecast a decrease.

In essence, the picture portrayed by the survey is that the European market is holding its own despite a slight setback during June and July.

The setback is mainly because of the poor sentiment within the European tillage industry as a result of poor grain prices, which in turn has left farmers slow to invest in larger equipment. But, by and large, the outlook for the European agricultural machinery industry remains cautiously positive.