Global Demand For Ag Equipment To Reach $112B

The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland, OH-based industry market research firm says that worldwide demand for agricultural equipment is forecast to rise 3.8% per year through 2012 to $112 billion, Industry Week reports.  The Group says gains will be paced by the accelerating mechanization of the agricultural sectors in large markets such as China and India.  Farm sectors in these countries are still significantly unmechanized and inefficient.

Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and Thailand will also post healthy gains as a result of increasing mechanization.  Besides benefitting from rising incomes, farmers in developing regions will continue to strive to increase productivity through further automation and replacement of older equipment and of draft animals used during various stages of the farming process.

The U.S. will experience gains that lag the world average due to decelerating growth in economic and agricultural sector output in the country, the group said.  Western Europe will post the lowest level of growth, coming off a strong 2007 when demand was bolstered by a strong Euro and Germany’s biofuel boom-related forage harvester purchases.