2010 production volumes likely to end higher than 2009

Equipment production volumes overall worldwide might not have been stellar in 2010, but the good news is they appeared to be running ahead of 2009, according to a gathering last month of international machinery associations in Europe. Representatives from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) participated in the third meeting of the Agrievolution Economic Working Group on November 22, at the EIMA agricultural machinery exhibition in Bologna, Italy. The group, which is comprised of the world’s largest agricultural machinery associations, announced that production volumes overall worldwide for 2010 will end slightly above the production volumes for 2009.

The VDMA Agricultural Machinery Association reports that the European markets are starting to rebound from earlier this year, with an expected increase of seven percent in production worldwide.

The U.S. remains the second largest agricultural machinery market worldwide after Europe, due to the continuation of increased farm equipment sales, and U.S. sales of 100-horsepower tractors were up 27 percent in October 2010 over the same month last year, said Charlie O'Brien, AEM's vice president agricultural sector. Combine sales also have been up, noted O’Brien. "Customers are purchasing equipment because there's pretty good optimism," O'Brien said of farmers who raise commodities such as corn, soybeans, wheat and rice. "There continues to be good demand for these commodities."

VDMA expects the U.S. market to remain stable in 2011 and increased growth in industrializing countries such as India and China.

Farmer income has also increased worldwide and equipment modernization continues an upward trend in some regions, which fueled optimism at the Agrievolution meeting for its 2011 economic outlook.

About the Agrievolution Working Group The Agrievolution working group is co-ordinated by the VDMA Agricultural Machinery Association and staff; it is composed of the managing directors and marketing heads of the following 11 agricultural machinery associations: AEM (USA), ABIMAQ (Brazil), JFMMA (Japan), FICCI (India), CAAMM (China), ROSAGROMASH (Russia), TARMAKBIR (Turkey), VDMA (Germany), UNACOMA (Italy), AXEMA (France) and A.E.A. (United Kingdom), as well as the European parent organisation CEMA.

About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) AEM is the North American-based international trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace. AEM membership comprises more than 800 companies and 200-plus product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Beijing and a European presence in Brussels.