Registrations of UK agricultural tractors over 160hp increased 27% on the year during the first six months of 2023, according to the latest figures from the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA).

This was in contrast to registrations for tractors of 50-160hp, which declined by 11% during the same period.

See also: Buoyant feel to tractor market for first half of 2023

Stephen Howarth, agricultural economist at the AEA, said: “Given the supply chain disruptions which the industry has experienced recently, these trends may be driven mainly by the availability of tractors of different powers, so might not accurately reflect current demand.”

Much of the increase was in the south and east of England: the home counties saw registrations increase by 20%, the South West by 12.4%, and the South East by 4% compared with the same period last year.

The North West, Wales and Northern Ireland all had small declines in the total number of new tractor registrations.

Second-hand sales

Sales of second-hand machinery were up £10m on the year for the 12 months ending June 2023, at East Anglia-based auctioneer Cheffins.

Cheffins has sold more than £62m worth of machinery in the past 12 months, with more than 3,500 tractors being sold and about 49,000 lots of machinery being listed.

Oliver Godfrey, head of the machinery division at Cheffins, said: “These figures go to show the insatiable demand for good-quality second-hand machinery, as farmers, landowners and the trade continue to be affected by inflation and the rising costs and delayed delivery times for new machinery.”

Mr Godfrey added that the auctioneers had invested in its bidding platform to increase confidence for online buyers.

“Online bidding has become increasingly prevalent in our markets, and with sales throughout Emea [Europe, Middle East, and Africa] and the US, it has become imperative to be able to offer the best-in-class software for our buyers,” he said.