Last month saw a slight increase in new tractor registrations as the market continued to recover from the overall drop in 2022, according to figures released by the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).
February 2023 saw 227 new units being registered for the first time, which is 2% higher when compared with the same month in 2022.
Healthy increase – so far
The year-to-date figures are 11% higher than the same month in 2022, with 712 new tractors registered in the Republic of Ireland by the end of February 2023, compared with 643 units for the same two month period last year.
On a county basis, the most tractors were sold into Cork with a total of 89 units, or one tractor per 84km², Tipperary followed with 61 units, one tractor for every 70.5km², while Wexford enjoyed twice the sales density of Cork with one tractor for every 40km², or 59 units in total.
The figures also show that 295 used tractors were registered for the first time in Ireland during February 2023, 37 units more than in February 2022.
When added to the figure total, it shows that 525 used tractors were registered by the end of February 2023, compared with 485 units for the first two months of 2022, an 8.25% increase.
Loaders sell well according to FTMTA
New telescopic loaders did not fare quite so well showing a slight decline in February 2023 at 53 units, a decrease of 16% compared with February 2022 when 63 units were registered.
There were 26 imported used telescopic loaders registered in February 2023.
However, the wheeled loader market took up some of the slack with a higher number of new registrations in February 2023 at 23 units, compared with February 2022.
The year-to-date total increased by 41% overall, although the FTMTA has not issued the actual numbers sold for February.
There were just five imported used wheeled loaders registered in February 2023.