In total, no less than 660 dealerships from 14 different countries responded to the survey. This gives a good indication of the effects and impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their businesses. The survey shows that the effects of the COVID-19 crisis are strongly felt by dealer companies and distributors in the European agricultural machinery and equipment sector. Around 80% of the respondents experiences “limited” to “a lot” consequences. The main “pain” is felt in the sales department of dealer companies with sales of new machines stagnating in particular. The sale of used machinery has also been affected significantly, but less than the sales of new machines.

The effects of the crisis on the repair and maintenance workshop turnover are less big. Dealer companies in general still have enough work here. This is partly due to the fact that customers, especially in the agricultural sector, simply had to do their Spring work, and machines were used to full extent for that. Repair and service of these machines have therefore been executed consistently and that has ensured that work in the workshops of the dealer companies in general remains at acceptable levels.

In general around 45% of the dealer companies also states that they expect to need (financial) support to survive the crisis. Contrary to that, 13% of the companies clearly indicates that they don't need aid measures and can manage without. The follow-up question as to what kind of aid measures are needed, then clearly shows that companies mainly want acceptable conditions for credit from the banks, but also favourable conditions for stock financing from manufacturers and machine suppliers.

The outlook for the upcoming months is pessimistic with regards to the development of the order book and the turnover of the dealer companies. More than 70% of them indicate that they expect a significant decrease, of which 16% of companies even expect a decrease of more than 25%.

A full copy of the report can be found on the CLIMMAR website: www.climmar.com