The total volume of orders for farm machinery across Europe are as high as they were in 2013, latest figures show.
The farm machinery industry is upbeat about future sales in Europe, according to CEMA, the European agricultural machinery body.
In February the general business climate continued to rise sharply, turning into the positive for the first time since early 2014, CEMA said in its business barometer report.
With 40% of manufacturers expecting a higher turnover within the next six months, CEMA believes that optimism is definitely back.
While future expectations turned positive across many segments, the current situation has improved particularly for ‘edge segments’ and remains weak for livestock equipment, the report shows. The ‘edge segments’ are areas where more than 70% of the manufacturers expect a higher turnover, CEMA said.
The main reason for the upswing lies in Europe itself, the European agricultural machinery body believes.
After incoming orders had mainly been driven by exports to countries outside of the EU in the past months, orders from EU markets have now increased significantly in January, CEMA said.
As a result, turnover expectations are much brighter for Europe, with improvements observed across all markets, figures show.
However there is one notable exception of Belgium, where last year’s agricultural income losses (-12%) continue to have a negative impact, according to CEMA.
Even in France, a slight majority of survey participants now expects a turnover increase for the next six months, though the French market outlook still remains at the bottom of the country ranking, CEMA said.
Spain continued to head the country ranking followed by the UK, a result driven mostly by the enthusiastic expectations of companies that are producing locally in the UK, the business barometer report outlined.
Nearly all British and Spanish dealers expect their turnover and orders to increase in the next six months, figures show.
