According to sales figures collected for the Tractor and Machinery Association by Agriview, the third quarter of the year saw the market slow a little, but is still on track for a sound result.

The TMA’s new executive director, Gary Northover, said the third quarter sales had some volatility but the tractor market was in a healthy state overall.

“Harvester sales and larger tractors are still going well but there has been some volatility at the smaller end of the market for tractors,” Northover said.

“Overall, the market is very healthy.”

There have been 8418 tractors sold in Australia for the first three quarters of the year, which is slightly down on 2015. There were 2717 tractors sold in the third quarter period, slightly lower than the 2800 sold in the third quarter of 2015.

Sales of 200 horsepower or more tractors were up 12 per cent for the quarter and tractors of 100-200hp were up five per cent.

There have been 409 combine harvesters sold for the first three quarters of the year, with 337 in the third quarter, up 10 per cent on the previous year.