Italian market still in a negative phase
There is no turnaround for the declining agricultural machinery market which, in the wake of a 4.4% decrease in sales in 2014, disclosed registration figures all down for tractors, transporters and trailers for January through May 2015. The ongoing trend was confirmed by data elaborated by FederUnacoma, the reference to a relatively small number of units
Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, based on registrations reported by the Ministry for Transport. The data indicated a 6.6% slump for tractors, with 7,728 units sold compared to 8,271 in the same period in 2014, trailers off by 6.4%, with 3,600 units moved compared to 3,846, and transporters sliding down by 30%, with 292 units compared to 417. The sole type of machinery on the increase, by 10.6%, was combine harvesters, but only by a relatively small number, from 85 to 94.
Beyond the figures on the national averages, this data on the trend over the first five months differs from region to region with overall growth of tractor registrations shown for Campania, up 16.2% with 63 additional units sold, Piedmont, plus 6.1% and 64 units, Tuscany, ahead 3%, and Marche, where sales climbed by 45 units over the period in 2014 for a gain of 18.6%. The 2014 levels of sales were more or less confirmed for Lazio and Veneto with a 1.4% increase shown for the former and a 0.7 downturn for the later based on a gain and loss of 6 units respectively.
In the other fourteen Italian regions, however, and especially those with strong farming activities, the market remained stuck in the red. Reported for the Emilia Romagna, for example, were tractor plummeting by 650 units for a steep 27.2% decline, well over the national average. Double-figure drops came also for Lombardy and Trentino Alto Adige, down by 19.5% and 19.3% respectively with 917 and 506 tractors sold in the first five months of 2014 against 738 and 406 units in this year’s period. The same trend was disclosed for Puglia where sales fell 20.3% with as many as 147 fewer units moved this year.
If there is no reversal of this trend in the months to come the domestic tractor market will continue as virtually halved over the 2004-2014 period, slashed by 43% from more than 31,700 to slightly less than 18,200 units sold to slip to a new historic low. In the meantime, FederUnacoma President Massimo Goldoni is reiterating requests for quick and direct policy targeted on recovery for the sector. For the Italian scenario, Goldoni has affirmed, European Union Rural Development Programs are the leading financial channels for the renewal of the machinery and equipment inventory of the nation’s farming enterprises. It will be necessary, however, for the procedures for assigning these funds to be made more lean on the basis of what is happening in Germany and France where these EU funds have been shown to be effective instruments for boosting competitiveness.
