Monthly report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers shows Canadian and US sales of all types of tractors and combines down in April compared to 2021 numbers – but with one bright spark in America.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via the Association of Equipment Manufacturers
According to the April 2022 report issued by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), tractor sales and combine sales were down in the month, except for one market in the US.
CANADA
April sales results for all types of tractors (2WD and 4WD) and self-prop combine units all showed negative growth when compared against 2021 data, with the biggest fall experienced in the 4WD segment.
In April of 2022, 2,992 total farm tractors were sold. Compared against April of 2021, last year there were 3,695 units sold—a drop of 19.0 percent.
However, numbers can lie if you only compare year-to-year.
In March of 2022, there were 2,270 total farm tractors sold, and only 1,683 of the same sold in February of 2022. So, April numbers actually show an increase in units sold over the previous two months.
Comparing these numbers against 2021 can be a fool’s errand.
During the economic shutdowns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, many farmers in the US received government monies, and applied the funds towards purchasing new tractors and combines.
In the year-to-date numbers of total tractors sold in 2022, there were 8,756 sales. Yet, in 2021 in the year-to-date category, there were 9,491 total tractor sales, which means there was a drop of 7.7 percent from 2021 to 2022.
For the <40HP 2WD farm tractors, 1,924 units were sold in April, compared against 1,514 in March, and 1,147 in February of 2022. However, in the April-to-April comparison of 2022 vs 2021, there were 2425 units sold last year.
This means that sales in April of 2022 dropped by 20.7 percent relative to April of 2021.
In a year-to-date comparison, 2022 data now lags behind 2021 numbers, with a drop of 8.0 percent in 2022 for the <40HP 2WD segment of farm tractors.
For the 2WD farm tractors of 40 to <100HP, 521 units were sold in April 2022, compared against 488 units sold in March and 347 units sold in February of 2022.
Comparing the April 2022 data against April 2021 data, there is a 12.1 percent drop in sales this year.
The sales of the 100+HP 2WD farm tractors improved over the past month: April 2022 saw 445 units sold versus 268 units in March of 2022 and 281 units sold in February 2022.
April 2022’s numbers compared against April 2021 data, however, shows a drop of 6.5 percent.
In a year-to-date comparison for this sector, the 2022 numbers stand at 1,091 units sold versus 1,082 units sold in 2021—this segment is up by 0.8 percent.
While that news is good, as of March of 2022, the segment was up by 6.9 percent… which means, obviously, that there was a drop in April sales in 2022 when compared against April of 2021—as noted two paragraphs earlier.
Looking at the combined 2WD category of tractors, 2,890 units were sold in April of 2022 vs 3,494 in April of 2021—a drop of 17.3 percent. In year-to-date comparisons, 8,553 units have been sold so far in 2021 compared to 9,124 units in 2021—a drop of 6.3 percent.
The numbers for 4WD tractors also fell. April of 2022 saw 102 units sold compared against 201 units sold in April of 2021 – a drop of 49.3 percent.
If we compare the April 2022 102 units sold against March 2021 when only 51 units were sold, but 167 sold in February of 2021. Up and down.
In the year-to-date segment, 203 units have been sold in 2022 against 367 units in 2021—a fall-off of 44.7 percent.
In a look at self-prop combine units for 2022: 110 units were sold in April vs, 60 sold in March. There were 128 units were sold in April of 2021—a drop of 14.1 percent.
In the year-to-date segment, there has been a total of 249 self-prop combines sold in 2022 against 346 units in 2021—a drop of 28.0 percent.
UNITED STATES
Looking at total farm tractors (2WD + 4WD) in the US for the month of April 2022, there were 31,587 units sold. In 2021, there were 40,669 total tractors sold, which is a drop of 22.3 percent.
In year-to-date activity, 89,786 total tractors have been sold in 2022 vs 104,023 in 2021, a drop of 13.7 percent.
For <40HP 2WD tractors, there was a total of 22,714 units sold. In April of 2021, there were 30,282 units sold, implying a drop of 25.0 percent.
In the year-to-date comparison, there have been 61,842 sales for 2022, against 74,130 in 2021—a drop of 16.6 percent.
Looking at the 40<100HP segment of farm tractors, April 2022 saw 6,261 units sold vs 7,779 units sold in April of 2021—a drop of 19.5 percent.
Year-to-date, 19,779 such units have been sold, though 22,290 were sold in 2021—a decline of 11.3 percent.
For 100+ HP farm tractors, 2,354 units were sold in April of 2022. Last year in April, there were 2,281 units sold—an INCREASE of 3.2 percent.
Comparing the year-to-date numbers, 2022 has seen 7,313 units sold against 6,676 units sold in 2021—an increase of 9.5 percent.
For 4WD farm tractors, April of 2022 had 258 units sold vs 327 units sold in April of 2021—down by 21.1 percent. Year-to-date, 852 units sold in 2022 versus 927 sales realized in 2021—a drop of 8.1 percent.
For the self-prop combines, there were 459 units sold in April of 2022 against 486 realized sales in April of 2021—a decline of 5.6 percent.
In the year-to-date comparison, 1,207 combines have been sold in 2022 versus 1,412 units in 2021—a realized decline of 14.5 percent.
AEM is the leading organization in North America advancing construction and agriculture equipment manufacturers and their value chain partners in the global marketplace. More information available at https://www.aem.org.