Tractor sales continue to soar this year, with 216 new units registered in April, according to the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).

Registrations in April were up 97 units on the same month last year, while new tractor registrations for the year to date are up 23% on the same period last year.

This means that a total of 1,252 new tractors have been registered in the first four months of this year, up from 1,015 units a year ago. Despite the year-on-year jump in April registrations, it’s worth pointing out that registrations in April 2020 were affected by COVID-19 disruptions and supply chain issues.

The three counties with the highest levels of registrations over the first four months were Cork (173 units), Tipperary (103 units) and Wexford (85 units). Leitrim was the county with the lowest level of registrations, with nine units up to the end of April.

The 101hp to 140hp range had the highest level of registrations at 617 units, accounting for over 49% of all registrations in the first four months.

During the period in question, only 9.4% of all tractors registered were of 100hp or less, 32.7% were between 141hp and 200hp, while just 8.7% were over 200hp.

Northern Ireland

Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) figures show that there were 64 new tractors registered in Northern Ireland in April, over double the 31 units registered in the same month last year.

This brings the total year-to-date figure to 258 units, up 72% on the 150 units registered for the same period in 2020.

An AEA spokesperson noted that Northern Ireland continues to see the strongest growth of any UK region compared with last year.

UK

AEA figures also show that UK registrations are up 12.3% year on year.

For the sixth month in a row, tractor registrations across the UK were comfortably above their level a year ago.

With 1,009 new machines recorded in April, the total was 11.1% higher than the same month in 2020.

The yearly total for new tractor registrations in the UK now stands at 4,268 units, 6% above the five-year average for the opening four months of the year.

UK April registrations (source- AEA)