It's been a pretty torrid time for machinery dealers – 80% of European dealers have been hit by Covid-19 restrictions and 70% expect significant decrease of turnover and order books

The results of a quick scan survey by industry body, CLIMMAR, on the effect that Covid-19 has had amongst European dealers, showed that 80% had been affected, especially in sales of new machinery. In the UK, 70% of dealers had seen sales drop.

Looking forward, 70% of the participants foresees a significant turnover and order book decrease in the next two months.

In total, no fewer than 660 dealerships from 14 different countries responded to the survey. It proved that the effect of the Covid-19 crisis had strongly felt by dealer companies and distributors in the European agricultural machinery and equipment sector.

The main 'pain' is felt in the sales department of dealer companies, with sales of new machines stagnating. The sale of used machinery has also been affected significantly, but less so than the sales of new machines.

The effects of the crisis on repair and maintenance workshop turnover have been less so, simply because spring work had to continue.

In general, 45% of dealers also stated that they expected to need financial support to survive the crisis. Contrary to that, 13% of the companies clearly indicated that they didn't need aid measures and could manage without.

A follow-up question as to what kind of aid measures were needed, clearly showed that companies mainly want acceptable conditions for banking credit, but also favourable conditions for stock financing from manufacturers and machine suppliers.

Regarding future order books and turnover, more than 70% of them indicated that they expected a significant decrease, and 16% of those expected a decrease of more than 25%.