Farm tractors: Indian heading towards 500,000
Forecasts of 2011 sales confirm steady growth in India and China and look to the recovery of the market in Europe and steep gains in Turkey. Strong rates of growth also expected for 2012 with the outlook for gains of more than 15% for India to consolidate the country’s world leadership for machinery taken up by the domestic market.
The Indian tractor market is reaching towards 500,000 units. By the end of the current year it will be possible to foresee the number of machines, tractors with greater than 30 horsepower, approaching 470,000 units and sales in 2012 at more than 500,000 units. In the country’s fiscal year used for compiling statistics, a total of 545,000 tractors were sold between April 2010 and April this year but this figure includes units with power under 30 HP or some 10% of the total.
Removing the figure for the 10% share to consider only tractors beyond 30 HP and evaluating the progress displayed in the fiscal year leads to the forecast that the Indian sub-continent will become the first market in history with sales reaching half-a-million tractors. This projection was formulated by Agrievolution, the forum which brings together the agricultural machinery manufacturers associations in the world’s leading countries, the European countries in CEMA, the European Committee of associations of manufacturers of agricultural machinery, and those in Brazil, China, South Korea, Japan, India, The United States and Russia. Agrievolution was set up to monitor mechanization supplies in relation to agricultural policies in the world’s macroeconomic areas and coordinate statistics and economic analyses for the agricultural mechanization sector.
The forum met yesterday morning in New Delhi in the quarters of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI, in the EIMA Agrimach setting, the international exposition of agricultural machinery and equipment organized by FICCI and Unacoma Service held in the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, IARI, in Pusa on the Delhi outskirts. Thanks to direct testimony provided by the manufacturers associations, the session made it possible to gain an understanding of market trends in various areas around the world and the evolution of demand in the near future.
After India, busy consolidating the country’s leadership on the agricultural machinery market, comes China with the second ranking market where the forecast is for tractor sales hitting 350,000 units by the end of 2011, again considering only the more powerful models over 30 HP. On down, The European Union is expected to chalk up sales of 140,000 machines. Among the developing countries to keep an eye on is Brazil, with an outlook for sales at 52,000 units, and especially Turkey, set to reach 55,000 units for a striking 65% increase over 2010 sales.
The race to agricultural mechanization should be strongly pursued throughout 2012 in light of forecasts for the two Asian giants looking to substantial gains reaching about 15% for India and 9% for China. The world mechanization market is evolving quickly, according to the conclusions reached at the Agrievolution meeting, and must be monitored closely with exchanges of data based on standardized criteria. Agrievolution has already scheduled upcoming meetings of the group for April 30 and May 1 in Riberao Preto, in Brazil, to coincide with the Agrishow, and for December 2013 for the next edition of EIMA Agrimach. Another meeting of the technical group planned specifically for handling statistical reports is set for October 10, 2012, in Moscow in the setting of the Agrosalon.
New Delhi, December 10, 2011
EIMA Agrimach: a winning project
Visitors in increasing numbers and the full satisfaction of exhibitors at the second edition of EIMA Agrimach wrapped up this afternoon in New Delhi. During the day space also given to biomass as an important resource for meeting the country’s energy requirements. FederUnacoma President Massimo Goldoni confirms partnership with FICCI for the 2013 edition and announces joint initiatives on research, training and trials in the field for machinery and equipment.
The EIMA Agrimach review held in Pusa, on New Delhi’s outskirts, from 8 to 10 December closed the exhibition’s second edition with a strongly positive balance sheet. More than 25,700 visitors took part in the event in India for an increase of 30% over the 2009 edition to confirm the country’s great commitment to agricultural mechanization.
Tractors, combines, machinery and equipment for tilling, plant treatment, harvesting and the management of livestock are all, in fact, essential for boosting productivity and improving the quality of the agricultural system which must ensure food security for a population set to reach 1.2 billion in a country earmarking substantial resources for these supplies and now allocating funds for food security six times greater than those written into the defense budget.
Food security, however, is not the only target set for the Indian agricultural system where there are also intentions of supplying raw materials for energy production. Agricultural byproducts, residues for processing and livestock wastes are renewable energy resources which can be exploited in financially feasible ways to meet the country’s growing needs.
These were the issues take up in a workshop on the EIMA Agrimach closing day chaired by Vito Pignatelli, the President of ITABIA, the Italian biomass association, with the participation of experts from the university and research world connected to the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, MNRE. The meeting covered comparisons of experiences gained in India and Italy in various fields of bioenergy applications aimed at achieving important objectives for safeguarding the environment and developing the green economy.
Also held Saturday, December 10th, was a meeting sponsored by the Emilia Romagna Region and CERMET, the Italian Certification and Research for Quality organization associated with the Italian region, for looking into criteria used for evaluating the quality of the agricultural production chain.
FederUnacoma President Massimo Goldoni declared in his conclusive remarks, “The success of EIMA Agrimach consolidates cooperation between FederUnacoma and FICCI and further confirms our shared projects for the near future.” He went on to say, “As of now we are busy on the next edition to be held in December 2013 and we are also getting to work on other initiatives aimed at fueling this important Italian-India partnership. In detail, I’m referring to study days and technical exchanges coming up for the next edition of EIMA International, set for November 2012 in Bologna, and the idea of organizing in India, already next year, agricultural mechanization demonstration days in the field as a preparatory event for EIMA Agrimach 2013.”
New Delhi, December 10, 2011
