Five year peak in new tractor sales

FIGURES for new tractor sales and licensing in February are the highest for some years.

According to the Revenue Commissioners, 1,600 new tractors were registered for the first quarter of this year to the end of March, including 786 in January, 384 in February and 393 in March.

According to the Central Statistics Office, 329 new tractors were licensed for use on the public road in February (their highest figure for five years, 26% up on February, 2004).

The CSO figures show that 267 used tractors were licensed in February, an increase of 24% over the 2004 levels.

Meanwhile, the Department of the Environment’s tractor registration figures for 2003 indicate that Massey Ferguson was the most popular brand, accounting for 32.5% of all registrations. Ford was the next most popular with 19% of the total. Between them, Ford, Fiat and New Holland made up 26% of tractors for which annual road tax was paid.

But Massey Ferguson and New Holland lost some market share since 2002. The third brand, Case, has been winning market share, up by 5.2% to 8.5%.