Document: CEMA_Economic_Report_2017_-_10_02_2017.pdf

The European agricultural tractor market[1] experienced a 6.7% decline in 2016 in comparison to 2015. Even though the overallmarket went down, the specififc situation differed significantly between countries.

In the two largest markets, Germany and France, demand decreased by 10.8% and 6% respectively. In France, the year started well with growth in the first half of the year, but in the second part all growth was outdone. The third and fourth biggest markets Italy and the UK experienced a minor decrease of registrations of less than 1%. Spain is the biggest market where demand went up in 2016, notably by 7.8%. In the other countries, demand ranged from a decrease of -28% in Hungary to a increase of +73% in Croatia.

When comparing overall registrations over the year it can be seen registrations dropped in the first two quarters of 2016 followed by a significant increase in Q3. This is mostly because of a remarkable peak in September. Due to a change of exhaust emission requirements a large number of tractors between 75hp and 175hp with Stage IIIB engines had to be registered before 1 October 2016. Therefore, many of these tractors were placed on the market just before that cut-off date. Accordingly, the (artificial) peak in demand was followed by a sharp fall in the Q4.

The overall drop in demand was not applicable to all tractor categories. In 2016, more tractors under 50hp were sold than in 2015. Additionally, a similar increase was seen for tractors above 250hp and between 150 and 175hp. For all other categories demand fell by up to 25% in 2016.

It is still unclear what will happen in 2017. The economic experts of CEMA's member associations expect that overall demand will remain stable at 2016 levels.