Sales of agricultural tractors and combines showed their first decline since July 2021, according to the latest data available from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
Tractor sales in the U.S. fell 21.1%, and combine sales fell 10.2% from last March to the same month this year.
“This is a sales report we expected,” said Curt Blades, AEM senior vice president of Industry Sectors & Product Leadership, said in a news release. “Inventory levels are down more than 10% in both the U.S. and Canada, and this is the result of supply chain difficulties catching up with this segment of the manufacturing industry.”
AEM noted manufacturers sold 24,516 two-wheel-drive farm tractors and 199 four-wheel-drive farm tractors in March, as well as 343 self-propelled combines.
This year’s overall sales have also declined from the same period last year. Customers bought 58,342 farm tractors between January and March, a 7.9% decline from last year. During that period, they purchased 748 combines, a 19.2% decline from the year prior.
Year-to-date farm tractor unit sales in Canada are down a slight 0.7%, while combine sales are down 36.2%.