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TAMA president John Tulloch.
The world's tractor market looked healthy in 2017, with 2.1 million sales – up about 13% on the 2016 total of 1.9 million units.
This data comes from Agrievolution Alliance, representing 14 industry bodies and 6000 agricultural machinery makers.
The high-volume markets of China and India had at least 1 million sales -- 490,000 and 600,000 respectively. And Europe, with large markets in France and Germany, had 190,000 sales.
The US market saw 4% more sales than in 2016 -- 220,000 tractors sold. In first-half 2018, US tractor sales totalled 123,316 – up 6.5% on the same period in 2017. Interestingly, at least 84,000 were tractors less than 40hp – lifestyle-block machines.
In New Zealand, first-half 2018 also had healthy sales -- 1876 versus 1448 in 2017, a rise of 26.1%.
Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) president John Tulloch says sales are back near 2014 levels, seen in such sectors as lifestyle, viticulture and agriculture, rather than only agriculture, which four years ago accounted for most tractor sales.
“It’s rare to see every sector relatively buoyant at the same time,” Tulloch told Rural News.
“Customers appear to be cautiously optimistic rather than big-spending, probably because of healthy scepticism about forecast payouts.”
He says TAMA members reported that Fieldays was largely positive, but actual sales prospects were down.
“We believe it might be a record year for sales.
“However, like our customers we remain cautiously optimistic.”
As we move into the second half of 2026, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that Year-to-Date figures ending June 30 saw new tractor deliveries hitting 1,386 units or 10.7% ahead of the same period in 2025.
For the first three months of 2026, new tractor deliveries saw an increase over the previous two months, resulting in year-to-date deliveries climbing to 649 units - around 5% ahead of the same period in 2025.
Coming in at a year-end total at 3088 units, a rise of around 10% over the 2806 total for 2024, the signs are that the New Zealand farm machinery industry is turning the corner after a difficult couple of years.
New tractor deliveries for 2025 jumped 10% compared to the previous year, a reflection of the positive primary sector outlook, according to the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA).
As we move into the 2025/26 growing season, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that the third quarter results for the year to date is showing that the stagnated tractor market of the last 18 months is showing signs of recovery.
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