Total tractor registrations in 2021 were up nearly 16 percent compared to the year before as the impacts of the pandemic improved, new figures show.
There were 12,017 tractor sales in the UK over the course of 2021, up 15.8% compared to 2020, when 10,380 tractors were sold.
Figures from the Agricultural Engineers' Association (AEA) show that 883 tractors (>50hp) were registered in December 2021 alone.
After the challenges of 2020, due to a combination of Covid-19 and adverse weather conditions, the AEA said it was inevitable that tractor registrations would be higher in early 2021.
It explained that year-on-year growth of 25% in the first half of the year meant that registrations were comfortably above the average of recent years.
The AEA said: "Growth slowed in the second half of the year, partly because the market had already recovered in the closing months of 2020 but also because of widespread disruptions to global supply chains.
"This affected tractor manufacturers as much as those making a range of other goods and led to lengthening lead times for delivery of machines.
"Without these disruptions, registrations would undoubtedly have been higher still."
Tractor registrations are taken as a broad indicator of the strength of the domestic market for agricultural equipment, the AEA explained.
Tractors must be licensed for use on public roads and as such are registered with the Department for Transport which allows an accurate count to be made.
In value terms, sales of tractors, plus parts and accessories, account for almost one half of farmers’ total spend on equipment, which again makes this data series a prime indicator.
