Tractor and agricultural machinery sales from home production are up by 14.0% in Germany this year, exceeding €10b for the first time. At European and global level, the industry is showing similarly high growth rate increases, reports the VDMA Agricultural Machinery Association.
Managing director Bernd Scherer of the Frankfurt-based organisation reckons the current boom is based on two notable pillars. “The first is the industry’s strong innovation impetus,” he says. “The second is excellent producer prices which are leading to a good earnings situation for farmers.”
If a recent industry survey of top managers in the European agricultural machinery industry is anything to go by then the current boom, which extends to almost all global markets, looks set to continue.
“Factories are running at full speed, and the order backlog in the industry currently corresponds to a production period of almost six months,” adds Mr Scherer.
The only significant exception is China. “However, our analysts expect enormous catch-up effects in 2022, especially in east Asia, combined with strong growth spread throughout the year.”
The VDMA expects the growth trend to continue well into 2022 in the major established agricultural machinery markets in the US, Japan and Europe.
Potential flies in the ointment are global supply bottlenecks in the components sector and rising raw material costs.
