Generally, North American farm equipment dealers remain positive about their prospects for improving sales in the year ahead, according to the most recent results from the monthly Ag Equipment Intelligence Dealer Sentiments & Business Conditions Update survey.
As reported in the March issue of Ag Equipment Intelligence, several manufacturers of farm machinery and components registered solidly better sales in 2017 than the previous few years and are looking for more of the same this year.
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.
In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we take a look at CNH Industrial’s goals for growing its precision business by 2030.
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