Cheffins doubles sales on Q1 2022 with £25m-worth of tractors sold

Agricultural auctioneer Cheffins has announced sales of over £25 million-worth of machinery in Q1 2023, double the amount sold in the same period last year.

Cheffins, which conducts the largest monthly sale of tractors in the world, announced the sales uplift across both its Cambridge monthly sales and on-site auctions.

This is over double the total sold in Q1 2022, which stood at £12.4 million across fourteen sales.

At the auctioneer's Cambridge monthly machinery sale, the three auctions in January, February and March grossed over £11.2m, an uplift of 20.5% against sales in Q1 2022, which achieved £9.29m.

Overseas purchases made up circa 35 percent of buyers at each of the sales, with top countries for export including Ireland, Romania, Sudan, Lithuania and Poland.

The highest grossing on-site sale was hosted on behalf of one of the UK’s largest agricultural machinery dealerships, Ripon Farm Services.

Top selling items in the first three months of the year include a 2021 John Deere 9800i forage harvester which sold for £230,000, and a 2017 Claas 980 Jaguar forage harvester, which achieved £125,000.

Oliver Godfrey, head of the machinery at Cheffins, said the increasing costs for new machinery, coupled with long lead times, meant both end-users and trade buyers have had to be prepared to pay higher prices for second-hand machinery.

"Well-maintained agricultural and plant machinery is continuing to see growing prices which has pushed up the average lot price achieved at each of the Cheffins sales," he said.

"As the pound remains weak against the Euro, the export market came back with a bang in the first quarter of this year, as overseas buyers become increasingly confident in the new rules and regulations for machinery export."

Mr Godfrey said global supply chains were continuing to struggle to build new kit as quickly, and this had left farmers and contractors little choice but to turn to second hand opportunities.

"Similarly, on site sales in the past three months for farmers, contractors and machinery dealers have increased in regularity," he noted.

"We have seen multiple sales gross seven figure sums as we offer a hassle-free solution to dispose of surplus equipment.”