Saama: Tractor sales plunge 23.2% y/y in October to 618 units
"The lack of rain has now reached critical proportions and this is going to have very serious repercussions on the industry, in particular, and the country, in general, unless good, general rains fall in the summer cropping areas within the next week or two. Farmers are running out of options with regard to being able to plant their crops, or to change to shorter-season crops such as sunflowers or soya beans.
"This means that the area which will be planted to maize, SA's largest grain crop, will surely be reduced significantly. This will have a negative knock-on effect on the agricultural machinery industry and, in turn, food availability," the industry body said.
Given the 30% drop in the maize harvest compared with last year, the industry expectation is now that the 2015 tractor market will be 15% down on 2014. Sales in the first 10 months of 2015 were down 10.5% y/y.
Source: BDpro