The 5,195 new agricultural tractors (50hp+) registered for road use in the first half of this year is almost a quarter lower than the same six months in 2019.
AEA figures for the first half of this year reveal a decline across all power bands, except for the most high-powered machines. All broad bands below 160hp (and over 50hp) saw a fall of between a quarter and a third in the first six months of this year, compared with January-June 2019.
The drop was slightly smaller above this power level but only machines above 320hp saw a 9.0% rise in registrations. This pattern suggests that the unusual decline in average tractor power seen in 2019 will be reversed this year, reckons the AEA.
The average power of tractors (50hp+) registered in the first half of this year was just over 170hp, up by nearly 5hp on the same period last year.
Tractors from 161hp to 200hp continue to account for the highest number of units; 1,226 during the first six months of 2020 and nearly 24% of the total. However, this number is down on the 1,541 registrations recorded during the same six months of 2019.
At regional level, registrations declined by 17% or more almost everywhere, with the sharpest falls in the Home Counties (-49%) and Northern Ireland (-38%). There were only two exceptions to the picture of sharp declines; Wales saw a drop of just 9.0%, while registrations in the South East were actually up 1.0%.
