A big increase in the number of UK registrations of new agricultural tractors (50hp+) last December brought the total number of tractors registered in 2017 to 12,033 – 13.5% more than the 10,602 units in 2016. December’s total of 1,360 units is a 164.1% increase in the number registered in the same month of 2016, when just 515 new tractors were registered.
The AEA reckons the increase was due mainly to a large number of tractors being pre-registered in advance on the introduction of new regulations that came into effect at the start of this month. The organisation adds it is likely that this will lead to some suppression of the number of registrations during the first few months of this year.
This is only the second rise in the number of registrations in nine years and the first since 2011. Even without the additional pre-registrations, last year’s total would still have been higher than previous year, although the rate of increase would have been lower.
