The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) reported that overall tractor sales fell by 24.3 percent in September when compared to the same month last year. There were a total of 13,090 farm tractors sold during September.
The category of tractors with the biggest drop was two-wheeled machines that have more than 100 horsepower, sales of which fell 37 percent. Sales of two-wheel-drive tractors with between 40 and 100 horsepower fell by 27.3 percent, while those with less than 40 horsepower dropped by almost 20 percent. Four-wheel-drive tractor sales fell by 2.6 percent.
The AEM noted that on a year-to-date basis, tractor sales have dropped 22 percent when compared to the same time period in 2008. Furthermore, self-propelled combine sales fell by 8.5 percent during the month, though they are up by 21.9 percent on a year-to-date basis.
Recently the U.S. Commerce Department noted that trade deficit fell by 3.6 percent during August. One reason for the decrease is an increase in the amount of U.S. farm products being exported to other countries.
