Agricultural machinery: market at risk pending the NRRP
Registration figures for the first quarter of the year indicate a decline for tractors, and a recovery for other types of machinery after the loss recorded in the first quarter of 2022. Overall, the market remains at a standstill, affected by the delay in the procedures for granting public funds. There is concern about the buying and selling of used machinery, which is growing dramatically and does not improve the technological level of Italian farms.
In the first quarter of this year, the Italian tractor market was down compared to the same period of the previous year, while sales of combine harvesters, tractors with loading platforms and telehandlers showed a recovery compared to the declines recorded in the first three months of 2022, but with sales volumes remaining small. Registration data - processed by FederUnacoma on the basis of Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport registrations - show a total of 5,083 registered tractors in the January-March period, down 5.3% after the 10% loss already recorded in the first quarter of the previous year. Combine harvesters reached 60 units (+46.3%), telehandlers 376 (+21.7%) and tractors with loading platforms a total of 158 (+18.8%), while trailers remained stationary, with 1,919 units (-1.3%). In FederUnacoma's assessment, the market - which in addition to registered vehicles includes a vast range of machinery and equipment that are monitored by the Statistical Office - is currently at risk of stalling. In a context that is already made uncertain by the trend in agricultural incomes and the probable drought that may affect production - explains the manufacturers' federation - a decisive variable is the availability of public incentives for the purchase of mechanical equipment. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which allocates 400 million euros for the purchase of "full electric" and methane tractors, as well as vehicles with precision devices, is currently at a standstill while waiting for the procedures for the allocation of funds to be established. The new endowment of 225 million euros specifically for tractors is still to be defined, announced by the government, taken from the Innovation Fund and entrusted to Ismea for operational management. FederUnacoma is also concerned about the constant growth in the sale and purchase of used vehicles. In 2022 alone - according to data on transfers of ownership processed by the Federation - 51 thousand second-hand tractors were sold, an increase of 30% over the previous year. These are vehicles with an average age of twenty years, which do not improve the quality of the fleet of machinery working on our land, and on the contrary slow down a process of modernisation that is more necessary and urgent than ever.
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