February Tractor Registrations continue good start to the year
The latest figures issued by the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association in relation to registrations of tractors and other types of self-propelled machinery cover the month of February and show a continuation of the very strong start to the year for registrations of both new and used import tractors. There were 319 new tractors registered during February which was an increase of some 39% on the same month in 2020. A total of 797 new tractors have been registered in the first two months of this year, up 21% on the comparable figure of 658 units a year previously. The three counties with the highest levels of registrations over the first two months were Cork, Tipperary and Wexford with 107, 70 and 50 units registered respectively. Leitrim was the county with the lowest level of registrations, with 7 units up to the end of February. The 101 to 140 hp range is the horse power band with the highest level of registrations with 426 units, or over 53%, of all registrations in the first two months. During the period in question, only 8% of all tractors registered were of 100hp or less and 25% were of over 160 hp. Registrations of used imported tractors continued at high levels during February with 460 such units registered during the month bringing the total for the first two months of 2021 to 968 units. February of 2020 saw 256 used imports registered with a total for the first two months of last year of 556 units giving a year on year increase to the end last month of 74%. Telehandler registrations saw somewhat of an improvement in February after a challenging year in 2020 which saw an 18% reduction in registrations in comparison to 2019. There were 48 new telehandlers registered in February, a 9% drop on the same month of last year. The total of such registrations for the first two months of this year was 115 units, down 29% on the corresponding figure of 161 units in 2020. Wheeled loader registrations started the year with a significant year on year decrease in January but were still quite strong in a longer term context. The immediate situation improved in February with 19 new units registered, up 7 machines on February of 2020. The year on year picture is down about 5% on the same point in 2020 with a total of 35 units registered to the 37 units after the first two months of 2020. Backhoe loader registrations saw a difficult year in 2020 with an annual decrease of over 50%. January of this year saw an improvement with 9 machines registered, up from 6 a year earlier. This positive move continued into February with another 9 machines registered in comparison to 4 units in 2020. The total of 18 units in the first two months compares well to the 10 units of a year ago.
Source: FTMA
