Tractors in decrease, waiting for incentives

The data on the registration of tractors in the first quarter of 2016 indicate a decrease by 6.7%. Strong is also the decrease for combine-harvesters, while general purpose tractors, trailers and telescopic handlers are increasing. Still under way the procedures for the RDP and the incentives from the government – commented the president of manufacturers Massimo Goldoni – resulting in the paralysis of the market

Negative trend in the first quarter of 2016 for the tractor market. In the period January-March, according to the data compiled by FederUnacoma on the basis of the new registrations at the Ministry of Transport, sales fell by 6.7% compared to the same period of 2015, cofirming the negative trend that characterizes the sector for over eight years now. In the first months of 2016 the number of sold tractors fell to 3,900 units compared to 4,180 units of the same period in 2015, with particularly consistent falls in important regions such as Emilia Romagna (-14.2%, 277 units) Lombardy (-7.8%, 356 units), Piedmont (-16.4%, 486 units) and Veneto (-19.9%, 359 units). Historical minimum also for the market of combine-harvesters, decreased by 25% with only 21 units sold in the first quarter of 2016; while in recovery – after the sharp decline last year – appears the market of tractors with loading platform (general purpose tractors), increased by 15.6% with 170 units and the market of trailers, increased by 5% with 1,906 units. To the four types of licensed vehicles that are the subject of the registration statistics, the Studies and Statistics Office of FederUnacoma added the data concerning telescopic handlers, a category of self-propelled vehicles characterized by the specific apparatus for the lifting of loads, which finds application in agriculture, maintenance operations and shipbuilding. In the first quarter of 2016, telescopic handlers marked an increase of 40.9% compared to the same period in 2015, a consistent percentage even if referred to a relatively limited number of machines (272 compared to 193 of the first quarter of 2015). “The Italian market still remains in a very critical situation – pointed out the president of manufacturers Massimo Goldoni – and also expiates in this moment the blockade of the RDP, as well as the delayed approval of government incentives for the purchase of machines with high security requirements”. “The call for bids for the allocation of RDP funds in important regions such as Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto – explained Goldoni – and the system of allocation of €45 million from the Ministry of Agriculture for the purchase of secure machines – the dispensing of which should be entrusted to Inail – have not been activated yet.