The latest report on the state of the European machinery market, covering 2021, has just been released by CEMA, the umbrella group representing European agricultural machinery manufacturers.
There are many interesting nuggets buried within it, but one of the more outstanding figures is the performance of the German industry which remained the largest exporter of agricultural machinery globally.
China moves ahead
In 2021, the country sold €13.2 billion worth of machinery abroad, handsomely beating second place China at €9 billion, and third placed US with €8 billion.
It is also significant that China moved ahead of the US in 2022, which may be a reflection of China’s strength in component manufacture, machinery parts being included in the overall figure.
However, the US did lead the field in imports, spending €11.5 billion on machinery from other countries, France was slightly less than half that with €5.7 billion and Germany followed a close third with €5 billion.
CEMA points the way
Ireland did not feature in the top 10 of either the imports or exports, yet the message for Irish manufacturers is clear, the largest potential export markets are the US, and within Europe.
Many companies favour Australia and New Zealand as the growing season runs contra to that of the northern hemisphere, allowing them to keep production lines busy all year round.
The UK is also a traditional market for Irish businesses and it imports €2.5 billion worth of machinery, while Australia comes very close at €2.4 billion.
One-way trade
China, which is often lauded as having great untapped potential for companies with machines to sell, does not even make the top 20 when it comes to buying in foreign machinery, coming somewhere below Turkey which takes in €0.7 billion worth of machinery.
The country that spent most on farm machinery was France which purchased €7 billion of equipment in 2021, followed by Germany at €6.97 billion. The UK invested €2.8 billion and Ireland €420 million.
This should not be of any great surprise as France has the largest area devoted to crops at 286,000km², Ireland has just 45,000km².
Tractors remain largest market
Most of the figures presented in the CEMA report relate to 2021, however, the breakdown of European sales by product family in 2020 also became available.
The biggest item was tractors at 22% of the total market, not too far behind were parts, which came in at 18% and explains why dealers are so keen to build up the parts side of their businesses.
Tillage equipment, including fertiliser spreaders, accounted for 12%, harvesting equipment 11% and grassland machinery 7%.
Russia and robots
The report also made a special mention of the situation in Russia which had accounted for €2.9 billion worth of purchases from Europe in 2021, the Ukraine had bought in €1.3 billion worth of equipment in the same period.
This was almost double the amount of the previous year, which could well be a reflection of the large investment in Ukrainian land reported to have been made by US companies following the Land Reform Act passed in July 2021.
The onward march of digitisation was marked by an estimated 19,000 robots being sold worldwide in 2022, this was 4,000 more than the previous yea,r while it is forecast 22,000 will be sold in 2023.
