While steel tariffs are currently grabbing most ag headlines these days, possible changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) may produce longer term challenges for U.S. agriculture. Battle lines between oil refiners and ethanol producers and their suppliers (corn growers) have been clearly drawn.
After struggling with shrinking sales and revenues since 2014, the Big 3 of ag equipment — AGCO Corp., CNH Industrial and Deere & Co. — each posted the strongest results they’ve seen in a while.
Earlier this month — Feb. 7 to be exact — USDA issued its farm sector profits forecast for 2018. The ag agency’s most recent outlook calls for further declines in net farm income and net cash farm income for the year ahead. But researchers at the University of Illinois Agricultural and Consumer Economics, say that, if past history holds true, the initial forecast is probably somewhat lower than what we’ll see next year at this time.
While more optimistic than they were a year ago, North American farm equipment dealers continue to acknowledge that booming machinery sales in 2018 probably isn’t in the offing. But the fact that their wholegoods inventory levels have improved significantly from a year ago is creating a more level playing field in which to operate.
Despite ongoing concerns with low commodity prices, North American farm equipment dealers are far more optimistic about their business prospects than they were a year ago.
When it comes to farm equipment revenue mix, European dealers rely far more on new equipment sales and less on used equipment sales than do dealers in the U.S. and Canada. Beyond this, the sales mix for dealers in both regions is fairly similar.
Let’s face it, when it comes to news about the farm equipment business, John Deere almost always commands the most attention. So, it was a bit of a surprise when we tallied the total views of Ag Equipment Intelligence news items that appeared each Monday in Farm Equipment’s Ewatch Daily Email Updates throughout 2017 and AGCO claimed the top two spots.
Stronger than expected sales of agricultural and light construction machinery was the basis for managers at Kubota to increase their forecast for year-end revenues.
In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we look at President Trump's tariff reduction on ag equipment, the latest dealer sales forecasts, and how high input costs are keeping farmer sentiment down.
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