Agricultural machinery sales in Europe are expected to continue to decline for the remainder of 2016.
Following the sales fall in 2015, many European markets saw further decreases in the first six months of this year, according to agriculture equipment group CEMA.
The group says machinery sales in almost all markets of its network (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK) are down and it is expecting second half 2016 declines of up to nine per cent.
Spain is a notable exception with an expected increase of 9.5pc in 2016.
The French market is also performing well so far up 7pc, but is expected to weaken during the second half of the year to decline by 2pc.
All major machinery types are affected by slowing sales with the exception of sprayers.
European tractor sales were 5.5pc lower in the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2015.
The biggest drop in demand is in the 50 and 250 horsepower segment typically used by farmers now facing difficulties due to low commodity and milk prices.
CEMA says mixed wheat harvest results in many European countries and continuously strong global supply could further aggravate the sales decline in the segment.
Demand for tractors below 50hp is stable, and demand for high horsepower tractors is even increasing.
The harvester market is down in all CEMA markets with an overall decrease of 8.3pc and forage harvester demand is expected to fall by 12pc in 2016.
The market for balers also fell by 8.6pc.
The only market expected to remain stable is for sprayers with Spain the only country to experience growth.
The current business mood is also reflected in CEMA’s monthly Barometer which dropped to a record low in August.
