The FTMTA (Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association) is urging all companies interested in exhibiting at next year’s Farm Machinery Show to submit their applications no later than the closing date of October 26.
The FTMTA’s chief executive Gary Ryan (pictured below) explained: “Due to the demand for exhibition space at the show, it may be difficult to accommodate bookings received after the closing date.”
A ‘soft copy’ of the exhibitor pack for non-member firms of the association is available from the FTMTA’s website. Member companies can obtain a copy from the association’s offices at: [email protected] or on: 045-409309.
Exhibitor application packs for the 2019 Farm Machinery Show were dispatched by email last month.
These were sent to all exhibitors that partook in this year’s Grass & Muck event and, also, those present at the last Farm Machinery Show in 2017.
Packs were also dispatched to anyone who had previously requested an application.
In related news, the FTMTA recently released statistics pertaining to (new) tractor sales for the first half of this year (2018). A total of 1,100 new tractors were registered during the January-to-June period. That’s a decrease of 6% on the same period of 2017.
Sales trends
It is notable though that, in a repeat of last year’s registration pattern, the year started with a considerable drop and then recovered as time moved on.
The three counties with the highest levels of registrations (for the first half of this year – to the end of June) were Cork (158), Tipperary (98) and Wexford (88).
Interestingly, more new tractors were sold in July than January.
249 new tractors were registered during July; that’s an increase of nearly 5% on the 238 units registered during July of 2017. But it’s also more than were registered during January of this year (238 units – coincidentally the same number as for July of last year).
Self-propelled forager registrations indicated a market that is “continuing its strong performance”. 29 (new) units were registered by the end of June, with possibly a very small number of others still to filter through the registration process before the year-end.
