German tractor and machine manufacturers recorded a double-digit decline in sales last year.
Farmers and contractors around the globe ordered machines, equipment and software systems worth €11.1 billion, around 28% less than in 2023. “These figures represent a painful decline, even though we must of course take into account the high level of sales that we are coming from,” says Tobias Ehrhard, managing director of the VDMA Ag Machinery.
Following years of above-average growth, tractors and harvesting technology suffered significant declines in 2024. By contrast, the stable milk prices allowed manufacturers of milking, cooling and feeding technology to achieve relatively decent results.
Mr Ehrhard said that last year’s economic downturn was unusually uniform in all global markets. However, this was due neither to weak producer prices nor to the harvest volumes realized in agriculture.
“It is simply a matter of the after pains of the pandemic. At that time, demand grew to a level that could no longer be met,” he added. “Once the supply situation eased, dealer warehouses began to fill up, and they have not yet completely emptied.”
For the current year, the VDMA is again forecasting a rather restrained development of the agricultural machinery sector. However, according to the latest surveys, sentiment in the industry is gradually brightening.
There are also indications that the economic paths on the world markets are diverging again. For example, the US market is currently still being held back by high inventories, while the reduction in dealer inventories in Europe appears to be progressing more quickly.
According to the VDMA, good harvests and a correspondingly positive performance in sales of agricultural machinery are to be expected in South America.
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