Monthly report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers shows Canadian and US sales of all types of tractors and combines down in May compared to 2021 numbers—but not in all categories.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via the Association of Equipment Manufacturers
According to the May 2022 report issued by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), tractor sales and combine sales were down in the month.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, as three categories in Canada and one in the US did show positive numbers—for April data, only one category in total showed a positive result (in the US).
We’ll get to those positive aspects as we move along providing an explanation of the AEM report.
CANADA
If we look at total sales in May 2022 for farm tractors (regardless of type) and those for self-prop combines, yes, Canadian sales were down relative to 2021 data for May—down 11.3 percent for farm tractors and down 28.4 percent for combines.
But, as mentioned, there are three categories where numbers are in the positive relative in May comparisons between 2022 and 2021.
For 2WD Farm Tractors, a total of 3,010 tractors were sold in May of 2022, compared to 3,405 units in the same month of 2021. That’s a decline of 11.6 percent.
Within the 2WD segment, tractors of <40 HP had sales of 2,125 in May of 2022 vs 2,598 in May of 2021, a change of negative 18.2 percent.
But… it gets better for the larger 2WD drive tractor market.
Tractors of 40 < 100 HP saw a 3.1 percent increase in sales in May of 2022 vs 2021—538 tractors to 522 tractors.
Better yet, in the 100+ HP tractor range, there were 347 tractor sales in May of 2022 against only 285 units sold in May of 2021. That’s an increase of 21.8 percent.
For 4WD tractors, May 2022 saw 64 units sold, an increase of 3.2 percent against the numbers from May of 2021—62.
Yay!
However, self-prop combines took a tumble, garnering only 78 sales in May 2022 compared to 109 in the same period of 2021. That a decrease of 28.4 percent.
If we examine the year-to-date numbers comparing 2022 to 2021 data, Canadian sales of tractors of all kinds and combines are in the negative—except for the big 100+ HP 2WD farm tractors, showing an increase of 5.1 percent. There were 1,437 such units sold so far in 2022 versus 1,367 sold (so far) in 2021.
The comparison shows that <40HP 2WD tractors is down by 10.9 percent in 2022; 40 < 100 HP 2WD tractors were down by three percent in 2022; and with the aforementioned 5.1 percent growth for the 100+ HP tractors, the entire 2WD tractor segment is 7.6 percent down this year over last year, with 11,571 units sold in 2022 against 12,529 units sold in 2021.
The 4WD farm tractor segment is down a whopping 37.8 percent in 2022, with only 267 units sold against 429 sold in 2021.
All told, in the year-to-date as of May, 11,838 total farm tractors were sold in 2022 against 12,958 sold in 2021—a drop of 8.6 percent.
For combines. Only 327 units have been sold so far in 2022, a drop of 28.1 percent against YTD May 2021 when 455 units were sold.
UNITED STATES
Looking at total farm tractors (2WD + 4WD) in the US for the month of May 2022, there were 27,880 units sold (down from April 2022 when 31,587 units were units sold). In May of 2021, 32,618 units were sold, meaning there has been 14.5 percent fewer tractors sold in 2022.
For the <40 HP 2WD segment, US tractors were down by 15.9 percent in May 2022 against May 2021. There were 19,836 such tractors sold in the month against last year’s 23,587 units sold.
Regarding the 40 <100 HP 2WD farm tractors, there were 5,878 units sold in May 2022, against 7,031 units sold in May 2021—a decline of 16.4 percent.
There was one ray of golden sunshine, however—the 100+ HP 2WD farm tractor market was up a healthy 13.9 percent when comparing May 2022 (1,990 units) against May 2021 (1,747 units).
In the world of 4WD tractor farm sales, 176 units were sold in May of 2022, down by a big 30.4 percent compared against May 2021 sales that saw 32,618 units sold.
For the 2WD farm tractor sales in total, there was 27,704 units sold in May of 2022, down by 14.4 percent against May of 2021 when 32,365 units were sold.
For the self-prop combines, there were 315 units sold in May of 2022, down by 12.7 percent from May 2021 when 361 such units were sold.
Looking at the year-to-date figures through May, the <40 HP 2WD farm tractors are down by 16.7 percent—81,386 sales through 2022 versus 97,717 units sold in 2021.
The sales of 40 <100 HP 2WD tractors was down by 12.9 percent—25,560 units sold in 2022 against 29,339 units in 2021.
The big month of May for the 100+ HP 2WD market continued in the YTD figures. 9,302 units sold in 2021 compared with 2021’s 8,423 units—an increase of 10.4 percent.
As of May 2022 YTD, the sales figures for total 2WD farm tractors has shrunk by 14.2 percent, with 116,248 units sold. By May of 2021, there were 135,479 units sold.
The 4WD farm tractor sale market was also in decline by a total of 12.9 percent comparing 2022’s sale of 1,028 units against 2021’s sale of 1,180 units.
Total farm sales YTD in 2022 are down by 14.2 percent with 117,276 farm tractors sold. In 2021 YTD, 136,659 tractors had been sold.
Combine sales were also down by 14.2 percent with 1,522 units sold YTD May 2022, against 2021’s sales of 1,773 combines sold.
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 www.aem.org.