Tractor sales plummet in Pakistan

Decline comes on back of sluggish demand

LAHORE: The tractor industry, while making efforts to modernise the agriculture sector and promote farm mechanisation, has been going through its worst-ever period in terms of sales and production for the past few years.

According to the industry, more than four tractor manufacturers in the country have been operating at less than 50% of their combined capacity due to sluggish demand even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The industry sold 70,887 tractors in FY18 - the highest annual sales in this decade. Sales dropped to 50,405 units in FY19 and stood at only 23,506 units in the first nine months of current fiscal year.

The tractor industry said it was astonished by the claim made by the FPCCI in its budget proposals that local tractors were of low quality and sold at high prices. “Pakistan produces high-quality agricultural tractors with a variety of working capacity in technical collaboration with renowned foreign manufacturers including New Holland Tractors and Messey Ferguson, and these tractors are by far the most economical compared to the rest of the world,” remarked Al Ghazi Tractors Limited (AGTL) Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Shahid Hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2020.

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