The three top-selling brands in the Republic of Ireland in 2021 were John Deere (20.75%), Massey Ferguson (20.07%) and New Holland (17.62%), according to figures from the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).

The trio accounted for 58.44% of all tractor sales, or a total of 1,383 tractors of the 2,366 units registered in 2021. If we compare this to the previous year (2020), John Deere also led the way with a 21.99% (21% in 2019) share, followed closely by Massey Ferguson at 20.31% (20% in 2019) and New Holland at 18.22% (17% in 2019). Between 2020 and 2021, each of the top three brands slipped marginally, the largest being John Deere at 1.24 percentage points followed by New Holland at 0.6 percentage points and Massey Ferguson at 0.24 percentage points.

From 2020 to 2021, Landini at 0.99 percentage points achieved the highest growth in market share. In the same period, Valtra, Claas and Kubota also grew market shares.

John Deere took the biggest hit in market share from 2020 to 2021, with a 1.24% reduction in its slice of the pie. Meanwhile, other brands such as Case IH, New Holland, Same Deutz Fahr and Massey Ferguson all also witnessed a small reduction in their market shares.

Northern Ireland and the UK

Meanwhile, UK data, which is supplied from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), shows that the top three most popular brands are the same, except there is a bigger gulf between each.

Once again, John Deere (25.3%) leads the way, followed by New Holland (19.1%), with Massey Ferguson (10.9%) falling into third position. The top three manufacturers accounted for over 55% of all tractor sales, or numbers wise a total of 7,770 tractors of the 14,071 units registered in 2020. This was marginally down on the 57% last year. Fourth position was held by Case IH with a 9.6% share, followed by Kubota (6.7%), Fendt (6.5%), Valtra (4.6%) and Claas (4%).

Taking Northern Ireland by itself, it’s worth pointing out that New Holland secured top position, accounting for 23.8% (129 units) of new tractors out of 541 units sold.

This was followed by John Deere at 19.1% (104 units) and Massey Ferguson at 18.9% (102 units).

EU competition law

On competition grounds, trade representative bodies such as the FTMTA or the AEA are not allowed to release data on what brands sold what amount of new tractors until 12 months has elapsed.

This is due to EU competition law restrictions. Thus, 2022 market share figures won’t be released by such trade bodies until January 2024.

John Deere was the most popular brand of tractor sold in the Republic of Ireland and the UK in 2021, while New Holland came out on top in Northern Ireland.