The recent downward trend in UK registrations of agricultural tractors continued in December, with the monthly total 23% lower than this time last year.

That comes despite strong growth in the early months of 2019, which meant that total registrations for the year were actually up 2% on the year, at 12,333 units, according to revised figures from UK Agricultural Tractor Registrations.

At 657 machines, the total was the lowest December figure for three years.

The downward trend on the month has been apparent in the figures since the spring, when numbers are thought to have been inflated by machines being brought into the country ahead of the original Brexit date.

“I think the downturn in the second half of last year was due to a combination of factors. It was partly cyclical, with good sales over the previous couple of years meaning that tractor fleets are newer, so there is less demand for replacements.

“This trend is also mirrored in other countries around the world, which don’t necessarily face the other issues that we do.

“That being said, local factors such as the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit and the persistent wet weather over the summer and autumn will have also led to some farmers holding off on making investments in machinery.

“Whether that changes as those issues become less important remains to be seen,” said Stephen Howarth, AEA economist.

Across May to December, registrations were 6% lower than in the same period of 2018. For the final quarter of the year, the annual decline accelerated to 16%; registrations in this period were the lowest for the fourth quarter since 2014 and for any three-month period in nearly three years.

In Scotland, for tractors over 50 hp, it has seen a 7.4% increase on the year for the number of tractors in Scotland rising to 1544, due to the demand earlier in the year.

There were mixed trends for different power bands. In contrast to most recent years, the number of registrations of high-powered machines, over 240hp, was lower than the previous years.

There was also declines in the middle of the power range (120-150hp) and among machines between 80 and 110hp. Most other power bands saw modest increases.

The total power of machines registered in 2019 topped 2million horsepower for the second year in a row. However, the average power dropped slightly in 2019, to 164.8hp – 166.6hp in 2018 – due to the reduced registrations of the highest-powered machines.