Smaller tractors led declines in U.S. and Canada farm tractor unit sales while overall tractor inventories are down more than 40% year-over-year according to the latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
U.S. total farm tractor sales fell 12.7% in June compared to 2020, the second overall negative result in a year, while U.S. self-propelled combine sales rose 4.1%. The sub-40 hp segment led the decline, falling 18.4%, with a small decline in the mid-size 41-100 hp segment, down 3.1%. All other segments were positive, with articulated 4WD segment leading the way for the second straight month by more than doubling, up 141.8% to 266 units sold. The 100+ hp 2WD segment also grew 24.8%. Year to date farm tractor sales remain up 16.7% and combines up 11%.
For Canada, June monthly tractor and combine sales were a mixed bag, declining in the sub-40 hp and self-propelled combine segments, while growing everywhere else, with the biggest growth in 100+ hp 2WD units, up 69.8% to 343 units sold, while total farm tractor sales were down slightly 3% to 3,217 units sold.
Available inventories may explain some of the changes in sales, as U.S. total farm tractor inventory (71,035) is 41.3% below levels in June 2020 (121,169), while Canadian inventory is down 33.2% over that same time (9,535 in 2021 versus 14,288 in 2020).
“The strength in the bigger row-crop units shows conditions in farm country remain positive, indicating a good-looking crop in the field and the promise of good commodity markets,” said Curt Blades, Senior Vice President of Ag Services at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. “We remain hopeful that the trend toward more efficient, more intelligent technologies getting added on to these heavy-use pieces of equipment continues.”
Source : OEM OFF Highway