Monthly report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers shows sales of Canadian and US combines are up in August 2022, but tractor sales remain a mixed bag of news.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com
Per the August 2022 report issued by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), sales of combine harvesters were very strong in August for both the US and Canada, but American tractor sales were down mostly, while its northern cousins appeared to enjoy a renaissance in purchases across all sectors.
We might expect combine sales to begin moving upwards in the US and Canada as harvest season approaches, but owing to an earlier harvest season for Canada, one might have expected the Great White North to have fewer sales of tractors as farmers concentrated on efforts to bring in the crops.
But that didn’t happen. All we can tell you is that sales for combines and tractors in Canada was up-up-and away, while the US tractor market—with a lone exception of a large-ticket item—was down relative to 2021 sales, though combine sales saw a very nice uptick.
The AEM report has separated the market segment of tractors into two specific categories: 2WD and 4WD, with three subsets for the 2WD vehicles. For 2WD tractors, as denoted by horsepower, we have: < 40 HP (less than); 40 < 100 HP; and 100+ HP. Combine harvesters are designated as Self Prop Combines.
CANADA
Sales in August 2022 for farm tractors (regardless of type or size) were up across the board by 7.2 percent compared against the same month in 2021, though one tractor segment gain is eye-popping.
Combines, were up by a stunning 33.1 percent.
However, year-to-date sales figures for both types of ag vehicles remain below 2021 numbers.
We’ll start with the smaller tractors—and the smallest growth segment of 2022 over 2021—and move upwards.
For the 2WD farm tractor sector, for tractors < 40 HP, sales increased by a very modest 0.6 percent. There were 1,498 units sold in August of 2022 against 1,489 sold in August 2021. For reference, there were 1,730 units sold in July of 2022.
For those at 40 < 100 HP, sales were up by 4.1 percent, with 428 units sold in August of 2022 compared against 411 sold in August of 2021. There were 534 units sold in July of 2022.
With the 100+ HP 2WD tractor segment, sales were up quite a bit by 43.9 percent with 249 units sold in August of 2022 compared to just 173 units sold in August of 2021. However, sales did see a drop as there were 317 units sold in July of 2022.
The total number of 2WD farm tractors sold in August of 2022 was up by 4.9 percent compared against the same month in 2021: 2,175 2022 units vs 2,073 units in 2021. Again, sales were down from July 2022 which saw 2,581 units sold.
For 4WD farm tractors, the numbers spiked upwards heavily, by 326.7 percent with a 64 units sold in August 2022 against just 15 sold in August of 2021. But… note that in July of 2022, there were 78 units sold.
The combined total of farm tractors sold (2WD + 4WD) saw a gain of 7.2 in August of 2022 against 2021 numbers, with a total of 2,239 units sold in August 2022 against 2,088 sold in August of 2021. Note that there were 2,659 units sold in July 2022.
The Combines sector saw a goodly jump, too with an increase of 33.1 percent.
The August 2022 sales were at 221 units against just 166 units sold in August of 2021… but note that we did see 247 such units sold last month in July of 2022 (and 365 sold in July of 2021).
Looking at the year-to-date data, overall all segments of tractors and combines are still in the negative—with only one segment in the black (upward).
For 2WD < 40HP farm tractors, year-to-date numbers in 2022 show a total of 13,228 units sold, compared to 2021’s 14,449 sold—a decrease of 8.5 percent.
For 40 < 100 HP farm tractors, there have been 3,834 units sold as of August 2022 compared to August of 2021 when 3,982 units were sold—a decrease of 3.7 percent.
In the 100+ HP segment, the downward spiral was HALTED, with an increase of 0.8 percent—as of August 2022, there were 2,305 units sold compared to 2,286 units sold as of August 2021. Hey… up is up, as the larger-ticket tractors seem to be what people want.
The total 2WD farm tractor segment is down by 6.5 percent with a total of 19,367 units sold as of August 2022, down from the 20,717 sold as of August 2021.
The 4WD farm tractor market was also down by 12.5 percent as of August 2022 with 491 units sold compared against the 561 such units sold as of August 2021.
The total farm tractor market is showing a decrease in sales of 6.7 percent as of August 2022 (which shows a bit of promise as the year-to-date sales as of July 2022 were a -8.3 percent). There were 19,858 total farm tractors sold year-to-date August 2022, against 21,278 units sold in 2021.
Despite the hefty monthly percentage sales increase, year-to-date sales as of August 2022 are down by 13.7 percent with 949 units sold against the 1,100 sold as of August 2021.
UNITED STATES
Looking at total farm tractors (2WD + 4WD) in the US for August of 2022, the market is still sown by 11.7 percent, with August 2022 sales of 22,007 against August 2021’s sales of 24,929.
But it’s not all bad news. No, really. And the combines sales are actually pretty good—real good, in fact for the large-ticket items.
For the < 40 HP farm tractor segment, August 2022 sales were down by 16.0 percent. There were only 13,880 sales in August of 2022 against 16,518 sales in August of 2021.
Looking at the year-to-date data, as of August 2022, there have been a total of 127,127 units sold as of August 2022 against 154,355 sold as of August 2021—that’s a year-to-date drop of 17.6 percent. Owtch.
In the 40 < 100 HP farm tractor segment, the August 2022 numbers show a decline of 7.2 percent with 5,871 units sold against 6,328 units sold in August of 2021.
The year-to-date figures show this segment is down by 12.6 percent as of August 2022, with 43,734 units sold, compared against the year-to-date figures of August 2021’s 50,051 units sold.
For the 100+ HP market, we have very good news.
There was an increase in sales by 11.5 percent in August of 2022, with 1,999 units sold, against the 1,793 units sold in August of 2021.
And here’s the REALLY good news—if we look at the year-to-date data, there is a 12.0 percent increase in 2022 sales here over the past year. As of August 2022, there were 15,759 100+ HP 2WD tractors sold compared against the year-to-date of 2021 when only 14,065 units were sold.
However, despite the great showing of the 100+ HP tractor segment, overall the 2WD farm tractor market was down.
For August 2022, there were a total of 21,750 units sold (there were 22,563 units sold in July of 2022), while in August of 2021, there were 24,639 units sold—a decrease of 11.7 percent.
The 4WD farm tractor market was also down in August of 2022 by 11.4 percent with sales only reaching 257 for the month compared to August of 2021 that saw 290 units sold. Note also that just the previous month of July 2022 saw a nice uptick of 347 units sold (compared to July 2021 when only 285 units were bought).
The year-to-date, for the 4WD market remains down by 6.5 percent. As of August 2022, there were 1,890 units sold compared against the 2,021 units sold as of August 2021.
For the combines—it’s all good!
For August of 2022, there were 790 units sold, an increase of 25.8 percent over August 2021 when there were only 628 units sold.
And the year-to-date date for combines is also good, with a 2022 bump of 2.7 percent into the black with 3,654 units sold, compared against the 3,558 units sold as of August 2021.
The 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 is available at www.aem.org.