Russian dealer, Ekotechnika Group, which claims to be one of John Deere’s top three dealers in Europe, is blaming the collapse of the ruble and deteriorating financial and credit conditions in the country for its need to restructure its debt load.
Starting off 2015, dealers surveyed by Ag Equipment Intelligence and Cleveland Research Co. say that, on average, they’re expecting overall sales to decline 11% for the year. Compared to what the major equipment manufacturers are forecasting, the dealers' outlook appears almost optimistic.
North American large ag equipment sales continued to decline in February, but did see a slight improvement in some categories compared to the previous month, according to the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers.
Rocky Mountain Dealerships reported its fourth quarter sales were up 1% compared to the same period a year earlier, but full-year 2014 sales slipped 4% compared with 2013. Case IH’s largest dealer group in Canada, with 40 locations, released its earnings on March 10.
Conditions continue to be challenging for large ag equipment sales, as highlighted by the latest sales report released by the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers.
Continuing solid sales of farm equipment and industrial machinery in North America and Europe, together with the effect of a depreciating yen produced strong results for Kubota Corp. in its recent third quarter and 9 months ended Dec. 31, 2014.
Despite reporting a decrease in net sales of $2.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, a drop of 13% compared to 2013’s $2.9 billion, and forecasting continued softness in the market for ag machinery in 2015, analysts expected worse.
While some industry people are still fretting that the current slowdown in the sale of farm machinery is setting the stage for a return of the farm crisis of the early 1980s, in large part because of declining land values, Ryan Larsen says, “Perhaps we should be more concerned with the impact of falling intermediate asset prices.”
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In this episode of On the Record, brought to you by Associated Equipment Distributors, we take an initial look at the Dealer Business Outlook & Trends Report and what dealers are forecasting for 2025.