A new report has found that agri-businesses in the machinery, spare parts and retail sector have felt the impact from Covid-19 more so on their operations than on trade.

Farm machinery parts, agricultural components and spare parts supplier Genfitt has published its Knowledge Report 2020, in which the company’s clients – which include agricultural retailers and other bodies – are surveyed.

One of the main issues tackled in the report is the impact of Covid-19 on these businesses throughout the year.

Most respondents to the report cited shift work, longer hours, staff absences and government restrictions as the main factors which changed how they worked.

Many companies noted increased purchases of goods for resale due to concerns over suppliers, while fear of lockdown drove sales across the sector.

All this made operations harder to manage, more time consuming, and created more administration.

Managing Director of Genfitt Ronan Egan

Managing Director of Genfitt Ronan Egan told AgriLand that despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the various levels of restrictions this year so far, many respondents to the survey remained optimistic.

“In terms of Covid, that was quite a funny answer we got to that in that people might see that it could be a very uncertain year next year, but for their own businesses they were relatively optimistic, based on their experiences this year and the fact that farming and agriculture is an essential industry,” he said.

People often have more optimism for their own business than the general sector which is a common enough thing.

Trading remained consistent and in some cases increased, with more transactions overall. Less face-to-face interaction does not seem to have been a concern.

The biggest issue was not sales but stock availability, as it has been slower to get goods from suppliers, the report finds.

Out of all businesses surveyed, 80% had a digital channel for online sales.

However, half of respondents conducted less than 10% of their business online, while the other half conducted between 10% to 30% of their business online. None conducted more than 30% of business online. The report indicates that this shows that businesses have still been largely operating physically with social distancing measures.

In terms of how long the impact of Covid-19 will last, 50% of respondents said the impact would continue for two years from the time they were surveyed. Just over 40% said 12 to 18 months, and less than 10% said less than six months.

When businesses were asked to provide three examples of how they had adapted to Covid-19, the most common answers were: different trading hours; new ways of working and communicating internally; and revised product offerings.

And when asked what are their three key focus areas over the next 12 months, most businesses responded with: staying open with greater reliance on wholesale partners; new markets and supply chains, which is also influenced by Brexit; and digital trading, with many businesses citing an increase in digital sales as their goal for 2021.

Respondents

The findings of the reports are based on Genfitt’s interactions with businesses, including independent agri-merchants; co-ops; machinery dealers; and machinery manufacturers.

80% of respondents were resellers and 20% were manufacturers. There was a fairly even spread of respondents across the four provinces.

32% of businesses surveyed have one to five employees; while 23.5% of them have over 20 employees. 76% of businesses have been trading over 20 years.