Last week we reported on UK agricultural tractor registrations for June, which completed the picture for the first half of 2023. The number of agricultural tractors registered during the first six months of the year totalled 6,777, 6% more than in the same period last year.

We can now look at how those registrations break down by power and region. In terms of power, most of the growth was for machines of over 160hp. Registrations of these high-power tractors were up by more than a quarter, compared with a year earlier. In contrast, the number of machines below that level was 11% lower than in January to June 2022. Given the supply chain disruptions which the industry has experienced recently, these trends may be driven mainly by the availability of tractors of different powers, so might not accurately reflect current demand.

At regional level, growth in registrations was mainly found in the South and East of England. In percentage terms, the fastest increase was in the Home Counties (+20%) but that region accounts for only a small share of the national total. The biggest rise in the number of tractors registered was in the South West region (+12%). Registrations rose more slowly in Scotland (+4%) and were lower than a year before in Northern Ireland, Wales and the North West of England.