Agriculture
Tractor sales in line with seasonal trends─── 15:26 Mon, 16 Jan 2017
Bloemfontein - Although there seem to be some mixed signals in the latest agricultural machinery sales figures, these are in line with seasonal trends.
Agbiz economist Wandile Sihlobo says the latest data shows tractor sales in December 2016 were up 28% year-on-year compared to December 2015. However, this was 23% lower than the tractor sales recorded in November.
He says this decline does reflect seasonal trends as the summer planting season is virtually over.
He says the year-on-year uptick is reflective of the increase in areas planted to summer crops this year, with the Crop Estimates Committee suggesting an increase of 15%.
Sihlobo says they believe tractor sales could maintain the current trend over the next few months and then gain momentum around mid-2017 when winter crop farmers start planting.
Escalating farm debt remains a key risk in the potential farmers to invest in machinery and equipment in the foreseeable future.
The full report is available here:
20170116 UPDATE SAs agricultural machinery sales paint a mixed picture.pdf
Source: Statement
