Subscribe & Follow

Advertise your job vacancies

Saama: Tractor sales fall 12.1% in 2015 to 5,673

13 Jan 2016

Tractor sales fell 12.2% in 2015 to 5,673 units, according to the South African Agricultural Machinery Association (Saama). The industry warned that the current drought conditions and severe weakness in the rand could threaten the very existence of the agricultural machinery industry as the sales decline had been accelerating in the past few months with December sales plunging 28.5% year on year (y/y) after a 20.1% y/y drop in November and a 23.2% y/y fall in October.

johnnieyost via pixabay

"The situation has worsened again since last month as the drought and heatwave conditions have prevailed," the industry said. "Summer crop plantings in the eastern areas of the country have been relatively good, but follow-up rain is required urgently. In the western areas (western Free State and North West province), plantings have been very sharply down on last year.

"This situation will become clearer once the crop estimates committee releases its preliminary estimates of summer crop plantings towards the end of January," it said. "Initial nonofficial estimates are that the maize crop could be less than half of what it was last year and that up to five million tons of maize will need to be imported to satisfy local demand.

"Added to the serious weather problems, the recent sharp fall in the value of the Rand will lead to significant increases in agricultural machinery and summer crop prices. This is going to have a serious knock-on effect through the whole South African economy," it said.

The association said the agricultural and agricultural machinery industries, in particular, were going to be facing a very difficult future in 2016 and would be fighting for their very existence in forthcoming months.

Source: BDpro

Source: I-Net Bridge

For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.

We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.

Go to: http://www.inet.co.za