The flagging trend in the sale of new tractors in the four most important European markets – Germany, France, Italy and the UK – continues. Figures for the first six months of this year reveal 14,230 new tractors were sold in Germany, 16,166 in France, 9,096 in Italy, and 5,892 in the UK. The six month total for the four countries of 47,400 is down 2% compared to the same six months in 2015. The numbers are down by around 10% in both Germany and the UK, and by 6% in Italy. The news from France is more positive where the six-month figure is 12% higher than the 14,378 new tractors sold during the first half of 2015.  However, this is the fourth successive year that tractor sales in the four big European markets have suffered. During the first six months of 2013 these same four countries supplied nearly 56,500 new tractors. By Steven Vale