Farms and Farm Machinery – September 2019

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MARKET NEWS

W

hat began as a gloomy outlook brightened considerably in

June for tractor sales in what can only be described as a

modest bounce in confidence

The Australian agricultural tractor sales market continues to

demonstrate a wide variation in activity.

Many parts of the country are in fact unaffected by drought

and as a result machine demand has remained strong,

particularly in the west. It is the drought affected regions of NSW

and northern Victoria that continue to struggle.

All in all, tractor sales were down 1.5 per cent for the month

and remain exactly 10 per cent behind last year.

It appears that the combination of a federal Coalition

government re-election, reduced interest rates and some

suitable rainfall has led to an end of financial year push from

many customers.

Fortunately,dealersarewellstockedandhavegenerallybeen

abletocatertothisdemand.

Salesin the 200 horsepower(150kW)andaboverangeledthe

chargein June,up9 percentforthemonthandnow1 percent

aheadoflastyear.

The 100 to200hp(75–150kW)segmentwassteadybutremains

14 percentbehindlastyear.

The 40 to100hp(30–75kW)rangewasdown4 percent,now

sitting 12 percentbehindlastyearandit wasa similarstoryin

thelowerunder40hp(30kW)range,down2 percentand 10 per

centona yearlybasis.

Acrossthestates,it continuestobea mixedbagatpresent

withWesternAustraliaa particularstandout.

Salestherewereupagain,thistimeby 14 percentforthe

monthandremainaround 10 percentaheadoflastyear.

Queenslandwasanotherstatethatrecordeda positiveresult

witha 9 percentliftforthemonthbutremaining 10 percent

behindfortheyear.

Salescontinuetobea challengein Victoria,now7 percent

behindfortheyearwhilstNSWcontinuestostruggle, 20 per

centbehindlastyearafteranother9 percentdropin June.

Elsewhere,salesin SouthAustraliaaredown 20 percentfor

theyear,Tasmaniais up7 percentandtheNTis in linewith

lastyear.

Combineharvestersalescontinuetostrugglewiththedecline

in northernNSWgrainproductionhavinganimpact.Fullyear

estimatesremainin therangeof 550 unitstooccur.Thisis down

fromthemid-800slevelofthepastfewyears.

Balersalescontinuetoperformwellasthedemandforhayis

stillstrong.Overall,balersarenow 20 percentuponlastyear.

Finally,salesofoutfrontmowersbouncedanother 25 per

centin themonth,nowsittingaround 12 percentdownona

yearlybasis.

Gary Northover is executive

director of the Tractor & Machinery

Association of Australia (TMA).

He can be contacted on

(03) 9813 8011 or

at [email protected]

FFM-HH-5025403-CS-

Left: Machine demand has remained strong in areas unaffected

by drought. Photo: Daniel Karmann/Alamy

june confidence boost