A total of 102 new tractors were registered in September, with figures from the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) showing that this brings the nine-month yearly total for 2021 to 2,186 new tractors registered in the Republic.

With 2,186 new tractors registered in the first nine months of this year, registrations have surpassed last year’s annual figure and are, in fact, the highest registrations on record since the Celtic Tiger era, when 4,531 new tractors were sold in 2008.

New tractor registrations in September were down 24% (33 units) on the same month last year. This represented the first monthly drop for any month this year.

However, despite last month, registrations for the year to date are currently running 24% higher than the same period last year.

In unit terms, registrations are up 425 units from the 1,761 units registered in the same period last year.

County by county

The three counties with the highest levels of registrations over the first eight months were Cork (282 units), Tipperary (180) and Wexford (146).

Leitrim (23) and Longford (25) are the counties with the lowest level of registrations for the year to date.

The 101hp to 140hp range is the horsepower band with the highest level of registrations with 1,086 units, accounting for 49.7% of all registrations in the first nine months.

During the same period, 10.7% of all tractors registered were of 100hp or less, 31.6% were between 141hp and 200hp, while 8% were over 200hp.

NI up 49.5%

Figures from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) show that there were 43 new tractors registered in Northern Ireland (NI) in September, up 16.2% on the same month last year.

This brings the total year-to-date figure to 483 units, a sizeable 49.5% increase on the same period in 2020.