While the number of used tractors imported into Ireland continues to decline, the market appears to be growing in terms of individual tractor horsepower.

The latest data gleaned from the FTMTA Statistics Service shows that 661 used tractors were imported into Ireland in the first three months of 2025, compared with 672 units in 2024.

The numbers of used tractor imports have declined steadily since 2021 when it reached a full-year peak of 3,726 used tractors imported or 1,371 units for the first three months of that year. Since then, the numbers have steadily declined.

During the first three months of 2025, there was a total of 29 imported used tractors registered, well over 30 years old. These tractors are considered to be in the vintage collector category, leaving a total market of 632 used tractors (see Table 1).

Part of the reason for the collapse in the imported used tractor market relates to supplies.

Used tractors only become available when new tractors are sold. The dominant country source for used tractors coming to Ireland has been the UK.

With UK new tractor sales down by almost 23% in Q1 of 2025, the low availability of used tractors has been very predictable. There were other sources of used tractors, but never at the same volumes as the UK source whether from auctions or direct from UK dealers.

Further analysis of the registration data (see Table 2) shows that New Holland dominated the secondhand tractor imports in the first three months of 2025 with a massive 32% market share. The Massey Ferguson brand took second place, closely followed by John Deere with Case IH making up the top four. There is a considerable gap to the next most popular brand of Valtra/Valmet after that, in fifth place.

The evidence of the tractors getting bigger becomes clearer when we look at the most popular individual models of used tractors that are being imported and registered in Ireland for the first time.

The average tractor power among these top 15 used tractor models that were registered in the first three months of 2025, was 155hp. The total amount of horsepower registered among all of these top 15 used tractors was equivalent to 22,842hp of tractor power in the used tractor market, combined for the first quarter of 2025.

When it comes to model choices, New Holland also dominated the most popular tractor models, having seven of its models among the top 15 most popular used tractor imports so far in 2025.

The New Holland T7.210 remains the most popular used tractor import, followed by John Deere’s 6155R/M model. Massey Ferguson’s MF 7718 was the third most popular tractor and was neck and neck with the New Holland T7.245. Ten of the top 15 tractors are now rated at 150hp or more.

These are all higher powered and modern tractors, indicating that contractors in particular, are travelling abroad to source some of their more powerful tractors.