New Holland and John Deere were the market leaders as the top selling farm tractors during 2014 in 10 of the 14 European Union countries featured in the April 23 issue of the German publication Eilbote. Both are also among each country’s top five best-selling tractor brands for the year.

New Holland had the top market share in six of the 14 countries, including Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Portugal. John Deere was the leading brand in four of the 14* countries, including Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France. Valtra, an AGCO brand, had the top market share in Sweden and Finland, while Steyr (Case IH) led tractor sales in Austria, and Massey Ferguson was tops in Norway.

Overall, 2014 tractor sales declined by 9.2% in western Europe (137,028 units in 2014 vs. 150,855 in 2013). Spain and Belgium were the only two countries that showed positive results last year, with gains of 12.8% and 11.2%, respectively.

Austria

Austria was one of three countries in which all five top-selling tractor brands saw sales decline in 2014. Steyr led the market with 21.9% of market share and the least negative change year-over-year. Fendt had the most negative change at down 44.8% and was also fifth in terms of market share. John Deere fell to third in market share in 2014 after a 35.1% decrease in sales year-over-year.

Switzerland

Fendt, in the number two spot for market share in Switzerland for 2014, saw the only growth in sales year-over-year for the top five brands at up 2.5%. John Deere, which fell to the number three spot in market share, had the greatest decrease in unit sales of down 28.1%.

Germany

Case IH/Steyr had the greatest year-over-year increase in unit sales in Germany at up 22.8%. This increase brought the company up to the number three spot in terms of market share. Deutz-Fahr, with a 12.2% decrease in unit sales vs. 2013, fell from the number three to the number four spot in terms of market share in Germany.

Belgium

Except for John Deere’s 12.5% decrease in unit sales since 2013, all five top brands for Belgium saw positive change year-over-year. Case IH rose 4.8%, Fendt and New Holland rose 18.4% and 18.1% respectively, and Deutz-Fahr rose 26.7% in unit sales year-over-year. Leading market share in Belgium, New Holland tractor sales for 2014 were nearly double the next highest brand.

Sweden

Valtra was the market leader in Sweden with 24.4% of total tractor sales. Fendt, which was at the bottom of the top five for market share, saw the greatest increase year-over-year in unit sales of Sweden’s top five brands at up 15.2%. In the number three position for market share, Massey Ferguson saw the largest decline at down 18.3% in unit sales from 2013 to 2014.

Denmark

Except for Valtra, which saw a 1.1% year-over-year increase in 2014, each of the other top tractor brands in Denmark saw a decrease in unit sales. John Deere had the greatest decrease at down 37.5% year-over-year. The others saw over a 23% fall in unit sales. Despite a 33.5% decrease in unit sales year-over-year, New Holland remains the market share leader in Denmark with 19.6% of tractor sales for 2014.

Norway

Massey Ferguson tractors took the number one position in terms of market share in Norway in 2014, with a 15.8% increase in tractor sales from 2013. John Deere, in the number two position, saw the largest decrease in unit sales for any of the top five brands with a 44.9% decline year-over-year.

Finland

One of only three of the 14 countries in which all five best-selling tractor brands saw a dropoff, Finland’s tractor unit sales were led by Valtra with 43% of the mar¬ket. This is the highest percent of market share for any of the brands for any of the countries. Despite a 19.6% decrease year-over-year, Valtra unit sales remained more than three times greater than the next best-selling brand, John Deere, which has 13.2% of market share.

Spain

Spain was the only country in which each of the top five tractor brands saw an increase in sales year-over-year. Kubota saw the largest increase at up 26.3% from 2013. Spain is one of only two countries where Kubota was among the top five best selling brands. John Deere, which leads market share with 25.8% of tractor sales, saw the smallest year-over-year growth at up 1%.

France

France was one of the three countries in which all five tractor brands saw a decline in sales year-over-year. Fendt had the smallest decrease at down 17%. John Deere, New Holland, Massey Ferguson and Claas were each down more than 23%, with Claas having the largest decrease of down 34.9%. Claas fell from the number three to the num¬ber four position in terms of market share.

Italy

New Holland leads Italy’s tractor sales with a 25.1% market share. Landini, which is only among the top five brands in Italy, came in at the second position with 9.6%. Both New Holland and Landini saw the top five’s only year-over-year increases in Italy at up 3.1% and up 3.6% respectively. Antonio Carraro, which is also only found among Italy’s top five best-selling tractor brands, is in the number five position for market share and saw a decrease of down 15.2% for unit sales year-over-year. Same and John Deere also saw sales declines from 2013 to 2014 of down 7.5% and down 22.4% respectively.

Portugal

New Holland holds the top position for market share for unit sales in Portugal in 2014 at 19%. Kubota follows in the number two position with 12.4% market share. New Holland, Kubota and Deutz-Fahr saw unit sales increases of 5.8% or more year-over-year, while Same and John Deere saw decreases of down 15.7% and down 27.7% respectively.

*Unit sales for the UK and Netherlands are not broken out because 2014 figures are not available at this time.