Tractor sales fall more than 20% year on year

Tractor sales fell 21.9% year on year in August to 460 units after dropping 12.2% for the whole of 2015 to 5,673 units, according to the South African Agricultural Machinery Association (Saama). Tractor sales have been hurt this year due to uncertainty about crop yields and exchange rates, whether the weather had transitioned from a dry El Niño global cycle to a wet La Niña cycle, land restitution issues and farm worker shares in farms.

“Although market sentiment is still positive, farmers in the summer cropping regions are now cautiously awaiting the onset of the summer rainfall season. Local and international weather services point to the El Niño effect having reversed into a weak La Niña effect. This would mean more favourable prospects for normal summer rains than we have seen for some time.

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