National tractor sales drop while WA purchases rise: TMA

Tractor purchases across Australia have continued to fall in the month of September, but WA bucked the national trend after recording a rise in sales. WA was the only “bright spot” with a recorded rise of 27 per cent, down 12 per cent compared to this time last year, according to the latest report by the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia “As we reported last, dealers are reporting a healthy level of enquiry from the market, but this is yet to transfer into robust sales,” the report read. “In a recent pulse survey conducted by Kynetec for the purpose of understanding the sentiment of farmers towards machinery purchases, 184 farmers covering a total area of 536,498ha provided some valuable insight. “Sixty-one per cent said their last tractor purchase was a new machine with 13 per cent occurring in the previous six months, and 14 per cent in the previous six to 12 months; 30 per cent of these purchases took place five or more years ago.” Nationwide, about 800 tractors were sold in September, 18 per cent less than the same month last year. Victoria is down 33 per cent and is 24 per cent below last year’s purchases. Queensland is also down by 12 per cent and is 23 per cent behind last year’s figures. New South Wales was down 20 per cent and remains 34 per cent behind last year and South Australia was down a whopping 46 per cent, a 31 per cent drop from this time last year. Tasmania was down 30 per cent and sales in the Northern Territory were 29 per cent down. “Sales in each of the reporting categories were well off this month,” the report read. “The small under 40hp (30kW) category was down by 14 per cent to be 23 per cent behind year-to-date. “The 40 to 100hp (30-75kW) range was down, this time by 16 per cent and is now behind 37 per cent YTD and the 100 to 200hp (75-150kW) category reported a drop of 23 per cent for the month and remains 25 per cent down YTD. “Finally, the 200hp (150kW) -plus range was 19 per cent down compared to the same month last year and is now 12 per cent behind YTD.” Farmers were also surveyed on their economic outlook. Out of the farmers whose last tractor purchase was a new machine, 49 per cent said their current economic situation was good or very good, and 46 per cent said their economic situation was growing over the next two to three years. “This all bodes well for machine sales to bounce back in the period ahead,” the report read. There were strong sales for combine harvesters ahead of this year’s season with about 350 new deliveries made this YTD. “Baler sales continue their upturn, this time up 23 per cent for the month but remain 5 per cent behind year-to-date,” the report read. “Finally, sales of out–front mowers were down by around one per cent in the month.”