A total of 247 new tractors were registered in the Republic of Ireland during March, up just 1% on the same month last year when 244 new tractors were registered, according to new figures from the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).

A total of 959 new units have been registered during the first three months of the year, up from 887 units or 8% for the period last year. While these figures show continued growth for the year to date compared to last year, the gap is tightening.

After a bumper January, starting 15% ahead of January 2022, February closed the year to date gap to 11% followed by March at 8%, dropping to single-digit percentage points.

The three counties with the highest level of registrations over the first three months were Cork (135 units), Tipperary (79 units) and Wexford (75 units). Of these three counties, Wexford experienced the highest annual growth with 22.2% more units registered for the three-month period, Cork second at 15.1% and Tipperary at 10.6%.

Leitrim and Carlow witnessed the lowest number of new tractor sales, with six and 14 new units registered respectively, for the year to date.

During the period in question, only 4.38% (42 units) of all tractors registered were of 100hp or less, 44.31% (425 units) were between 100hp and 140hp, 41.71% (400 units) were between 140hp and 200hp, while the remaining 9.6% (92 units) were over 200hp.

Used registrations

The FTMTA data shows that 304 imported used tractors were registered in Ireland for the first time in March, 83 units more than in March 2022.

The year to date figure of used tractor registrations is 829 compared with 706 units for the first three months of 2022, a total increase of 17% increase.

Northern Ireland

According the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), there were 67 machines registered in Northern Ireland this March, bang on the same number registered in March 2022. That brings the total for the year to date to 163 new tractors, down 8.23% when compared with 177 units in the same January-March period in 2022

UK

UK registration figures from the (AEA) show that 2,223 new tractors were registered in March, 12.5% ahead of the same period last year and the highest monthly figure witnessed since March 2009.

This number, combined with those for January and February, saw the year to date figure until the end of March total 3,354 new registrations, 10.1% ahead of the same period in 2022.