Massey Ferguson tops but tractor sales decline

THE total pool of agricultural tractors in use in the country has declined marginally, according to the latest Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics.

Issued by the Department of the Environment and Local Government, the figures show that there were 67,331 tractors taxed last year compared with 67,717 the previous year.

The Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA), which has studied the figures, noted that Massey Ferguson tops the bill again with 23,443 tractors, accounting for 34.5% of all tractors.

Next is the combination of the Ford, Fiat and New Holland line-up, which accounts for a total of 17,793, or 26%.

Case, along with the David Brown brand, accounts for 5,666 tractors in use, while there are still 2,159 International Harvester tractors in use bringing the CaseIH total to 7,825.

Zetor still holds the edge over John Deere with 4,802 Zetors in use. John Deere is almost 1,000 behind at 3,836 units.

Valtra Valmet models account for 380 tractors in the country compared with Renault at 580 and Same Lamborghini at 827 units.

Deutz-Fahr, which has been on the market for a long time, has 1,211, while old stagers such as Leyland (788 units), Universal (452 units) and Marshall (125 units) remain on.

On a county-by-county basis Ford dominates. It accounts for 12.3% of all tractors in the country. The Ford, Fiat and New Holland brands dominate the County Cork landscape, as almost 50% of Cork tractors are from these brands.

In neighbouring County Kerry, Massey Ferguson is the dominant brand accounting for 4% of the market.

John Deere’s best county is Cork, where there are 545 tractors in use, which is 6.5% of the market. In Kilkenny, where there are less John Deere models, the brand accounts for 8.7% of the market.

For Deutz-Fahr, Cork has the highest number of registrations, while the Lamborghini population is highest in Kerry. Wexford accounts for over 16% of all Landinis in the country, followed by Cork.

The Same numbers peak in Donegal, while Valtra Valmet numbers are best in Wexford. South Tipperary tops the Renault tractor numbers, while Galway is the top county for Zetor registrations and Limerick tops the Ursus league.

Louth is the county with the lowest number of tractors in Ireland at 737 units registered in 2001. In Louth, Massey Ferguson is the leading make followed by Ford New Holland, while Case has 2% and John Deere has also a good share at 14.6%.