In what is nearly a mirror image of the trend during 2017, the latest figures from the FTMTA show that registrations of new tractors started the year with a sizeable year-on-year drop but have improved dramatically as the year progressed. A total of 855 new tractors have been registered during the first four months on 2018, which is 5% less than in the same period of 2017. Nearly 90 of those tractors have greater than 100hp and 55% have greater than 120hp. The three counties with the highest numbers of new tractors registered during the first four months of this year are Cork, Tipperary and Wexford with 129, 75 and 74 units, respectively.

Telehandlers

A notable feature in recent years has been the increased numbers of telehandlers being registered. While a resurgent construction sector obviously accounts for a substantial volume of such machines, there is no doubt that a large number of these are also making their way on to Irish farms where they have become a much valued workhorse. In some cases, they are taking on work which, traditionally, would have been handled by a tractor with a loader. Registrations of new telehandlers in the first four months of the year stand at 171 units, an increase of 23% on the same period in 2017. It is an impressive figure when taken in the context of the 300+ units registered in each of the full years of 2016 and 2017.

Wheeled loaders are also up substantially during the period under review, with 34 units registered compared with 21 in the corresponding period of 2017.