The Agricultural Machinery Market Faced Sharp Downturn in EU and North America in 2024

According to FederUnacoma, the agricultural machinery market faced a sharp downturn in 2024, with sales declining across all major machine types in Europe and North America. Tractor registrations saw their worst performance in decades, while combine harvesters, transporters, telescopic handlers, and trailers also recorded significant drops. The decline is driven by rising production costs and limited access to credit, impacting the entire industry.

The national agricultural machinery market ended 2024 with a sharp drop in sales. This is evident from registration data for mechanical vehicles over the past twelve months, as processed by FederUnacoma based on records provided by the Ministry of Transport.

The decline affected all major machinery categories, starting with tractors, which saw a 12.3% decrease in registrations – 15,448 units compared to 17,613 the previous year – marking the worst performance since 1952. Combine harvester sales also suffered, plummeting by 31.8% to 266 units (from 390 in 2024). Transporters (tractors with loading platforms) followed a similar trend, with a 14.9% decline, dropping to 525 units sold (down from 617).

The economic downturn also weighed on telescopic handlers and trailers. Telescopic handlers registered a 14.4% decline, with 977 units sold (compared to 1,141 in 2024), while trailer sales showed a more contained drop of 2.8% reaching 7,504 units (down from 7,718).

Following the peak in 2021, the sector has now experienced three consecutive years of decline. The primary factors behind this downward trend include rising production costs and high interest rates, which have made access to credit more difficult. These challenges, combined with stagnant agricultural incomes, have also dampened machinery demand across other major European and North American markets.

In the European Union, sales declined in France (-10.1% to 26,507 units), Germany (-3.4% to 29,291 units) and the UK(-11.9% to 11,761 units).  Across the Atlantic, the trend was even more pronounced, with the United States recording a 13.2% drop (217,200 units sold) and Canada experiencing a 15.8% decline (23,444 units).

The Italian market faces additional complexities due to shifting expectations around government incentives. FederUnacoma, the manufacturers’ association, notes that the incentives for investments in industry 4.0 technologies – key to boosting the agromechanical sector in 2021 – are running out. Meanwhile, funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, PNRR) are limited to electric or methane-powered tractors. While they also support other precision agriculture vehicles, their overall impact is expected to be more restricted.

In this challenging landscape, the Innovation Fund and the ISI Inail incentive program have helped mitigate losses, preventing an even steeper decline. However, the manufacturers’ association stresses that the complexity of the current economic phase calls for additional structural intervention plans to strengthen the sector and support future growth.