All power bands were affected by the 13% drop in the number of tractors registered in the UK last year to 10,241 units. The exception was for 240hp+ tractors; the numbers of which rose 14% from 1,383 units in 2023 to 1,570 last year.
AEA figures show that 1,091 241-320hp tractors were registered in the UK in 2024 (916 in 2023), while the number of 320hp+ registrations rose from 467 in 2023 to 479 last year.
Across the rest of the power range, registrations were down by 17% year on year, with fairly similar rates of decline across the board. For example, registrations of tractors from 121-140hp and 201-240hp were both a fifth lower at 1,013 (1,275 in 2023) and 1,439 units (1,805 in 2023), respectively.
Source: AEA Economic Department
With growth in registrations limited to the top end of the power range, the average power of tractors recorded in 2024 increased again, to 179.7hp. That compares with 173.8hp in 2023 and 168.4hp in 2022.
It also means that, while the number of tractors registered in 2024 was slightly lower than in 2020, during the previous downturn, the total power of machines logged during the year was 4.0% higher, at 1.84 million hp. That is still 10% less than in 2023, though, reports the AEA.
UK agricultural tractor registrations by region
Most parts of the UK saw substantially fewer new tractors registered in 2024 than in 2023. The exceptions were Northern Ireland, which recorded a small year-on-year increase, and Scotland and north east England, where registrations were only down 3-4%.
Source: AEA Economic Department
All these are areas dominated by grazing livestock farms, says the AEA, which had a better year than their arable and dairy counterparts in other parts of the country.
The biggest falls were in the south west and the Home Counties, both of which saw registrations dropping by about a quarter, compared with 2023. That meant East Anglia (1,482 units) overtook the south west as the leading region for tractor registrations during the year.
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