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Pottinger says it has substantial order books, after a difficult 16-month period brought about by the pandemic.
Despite Covid, the need for the world to eat has kept farmers busy, meaning that they continue to buy new kit and machinery – so manufacturers are also busy.
As an example, Austrian company Pöttinger is signaling that it will have its best year ever, expecting to end its 2020/21 financial year with a €395m turnover (NZ$673m). This is a significant increase on the €366m of 2019/2020 and beats the previous best ever figure of €382m in 2018/2019.
Speaking at a virtual press launch of the new Jumbo 7000 series forage wagons, spokesman Gregor Dietachmayr, confirmed Pöttinger is very busy, with substantial order books, after a difficult 16-month period brought about by the pandemic.
“We had to be careful, even reducing our manufacturing output slightly to reduce the risk of creating too-high machine inventories, should the demand have shrunk,” said Dietachmayr. “We were surprised to find the demand for new machines actually increased.”
While the domestic market of Austria accounts for 10% of sales, exports of the remaining 90% sees Germany and France as the largest markets at 19% and 15% respectively. The product mix is built around grassland machinery at 46% of volume, tillage gear at 16%, balers and loader wagons at 15%, with drills making up 9% of the total.
During the year, the company opened its 17th sales subsidiary in Poland; a strategy started in France in 1999 that was followed by Switzerland (2003), Italy (2004), Canada (2005), Ukraine (2007), Australia, Slovakia and USA (2008), Russia (2010), the UK, Belgium and Ireland (2012) and Scandinavia and China (2016).
Off-road specialists Polaris has launched a new speedcontrol and geofencing kit, aimed at keeping operators and workplaces safer by allowing users to set maximum speed limits and limit speeds in geofenced areas.
German company Stoll, the well-known manufacturer of tractor front loaders and attachments that claims to be the second largest producer in the world, has been brought by Czech company Agrostroj Pelhřimov.
Kuhn has updated its MDS range of fertiliser spreaders, giving farmers more options to upgrade machines as situations change, rather than having to change to a new machine.
Nesting birds are wreaking havoc when it comes to rural insurance, causing more than $4 million in claims over the last three years, says FMG.
As tractors get larger and front linkage kits become more common, many have started fitting underrun or collision protection systems.
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