Agricultural machines, sales down in the first quarter

The first quarter of 2024 sees a sharp contraction in agricultural machinery sales in Italy. The data on registrations - processed by FederUnacoma on the basis of the registrations provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport - highlight significant drops for all types of products, compared to the same period of 2023. Tractors mark the pace with a decline of 25%, with 3,812 units registered, combine harvesters with 26 registered machines fell by 56.7%, transporters fell by 18.4% with 129 units whilst agricultural trailers contained losses at 6.1 percentage points with 1,801 vehicles registered. Telescopic lifts, which have had widespread success on the Italian market in recent years, suffer a significant contraction in sales: -37.2% with 236 machines sold.
Among the main factors that have influenced the trend in registrations in recent months, the monetary policy followed by the European Central Bank has had a significant impact. The increase in interest rates, together with the increase in price lists resulting from the growth in the cost of raw materials, has in fact made it more difficult for primary companies and contractors to invest in new agricultural technologies.