Feb 8, 20212 min read

Agricultural Machinery Market Recovering In Italy At The End Of 2020

2020 closes in the red for the agricultural machinery market, but with small losses. The health emergency affected investments for the purchase of new vehicles, and therefore sales are decreasing for tractors, combine harvesters and trailers.

Registrations for the year were down for almost all types of vehicles, even if the final figures appear less negative than expected. The sharp surge in sales in the last two months of the year made it possible to partially offset the collapse recorded between March and May due to the first pandemic wave and the lockdown.

The data on registrations - processed by FederUnacoma based on the registrations provided by the Ministry of Transport - indicate that at the end of the year there was a 3.4% decrease for tractors compared to 2019, with 17,944 units; combine harvesters were down by 2.6% with 302 units, and trailers closed with a loss of 12.1% with a total of 7,862 units.

"The downturns recorded on the national market - comments the President of FederUnacoma Alessandro Malavolti - aggravate the situation of a sector that for many years has seen a constant decline in demand for new tractors and mechanical vehicles, to the advantage of used machines that often do not offer guarantees of efficiency and environmental compatibility".

"However, Malavolti adds - the result for 2020 risked being much worse, since in the first part of the year, and especially during the lockdown in the spring months, sales collapsed, leading to more significant losses". "A good recovery came in the last part of the year - concludes the President of FederUnacoma - and this has improved the closing balance".

The analysis of the monthly data shows very strong recoveries in the last two months: the registrations of tractors marked a surge of 38.5% in November compared to the same month 2019, and further growth of 38% in December, allowing for a recovery in sales volumes and therefore a reduction in losses.

The increase in registrations at the end of 2020 could be a sign of recovery in the early months of the new year, also given the renewal of the tax credit for 2021. However, the market trend remains dependent on the effects of the pandemic, which is surging again and which continues to weigh as a serious unknown factor on the production sectors.

In the year’s closing balance, some important Regions suffered a greater decline in tractor sales than the national average (Emilia Romagna -34.3%, Lombardy -8.9%, Veneto -9.7%), while other Regions, among those with the greatest weight in the agricultural machinery market, even closed with significant increases (Piedmont +24.6%, Puglia +9.1%, Sicily +5.5%).