MOST AREAS OF UK SAW "SUBSTANTIALLY FEWER" TRACTOR SALES IN '24

The AEA recently reported that the number of agricultural tractors registered in the UK in 2024 reached 10,241, 13% fewer than the year before. Now, the Association has looked at how the situation varied between regions of the UK and power bands.

According to the AEA's figures most parts of the UK saw substantially fewer registrations in 2024 than in 2023. The exceptions were Northern Ireland, which recorded a small year-on-year increase, and Scotland and North East England, where registrations were only down 3-4%.

Agricultural economist at the Association, Stephen Howarth, explained this regional anomaly, saying, "All these are areas dominated by grazing livestock farms, which had a better year than their arable and dairy counterparts in other parts of the country. The biggest falls were in the South West and the Home Counties, both of which saw registrations dropping by about a quarter, compared with 2023. That meant East Anglia overtook the South West as the leading region for tractor registrations during the year."

In terms of power the AEA says the downward trend in registrations was apparent across most of the power range, with the only exception being for the biggest machines, with power over 240hp. The number of such tractors registered during the year was 14% higher than in 2023. Across the rest of the power range, registrations were down by 17% year on year, with fairly similar rates of decline across the board.

Stephen Howarth noted, "With growth in registrations limited to the top end of the power range, the average power of tractors recorded in 2024 increased again, to 179.7hp. That compares with 173.8hp in 2023 and just 168.4hp in 2022. It also means that, while the number of tractors registered in 2024 was slightly lower than in 2020, during the previous downturn, the total power of machines logged during the year was 4% higher, at 1.84 million hp. That is still 10% less than in 2023, though."