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Boom
Times For Farm Suppliers In South Otago and Southland tractor and machinery retailers are set for their best year in nearly a decade as higher farm incomes from the low $NZ and good prices overseas flow through the rural economy and create new jobs. Unfortunately the `boom' is almost 100% attributable to foregin sales, which means that it is a classic cyclic phenomena and won't last. Amid the euphoria in farm-feed towns and cities in the South there is no mention of the big picture or the future. However, right now the South is in a good mood. Most retailers in the Otago region have recently taken on extra staff as they enjoy increased sales of capital equipment. In some cases, sales are 70% ahead of last year. But it is not only farmers who are enjoying better times. While new vehicle sales nationally have been mostly static for the nine months to the end of September, in Otago they are up 13% over the same period. Cooke Howlison managing director John Marsh said that over the same period a buying binge by urban and rural customers had pushed sales of new luxurious, family and light commercial vehicles up by 21%. "This year has certainly been a real boom," he said. Taieri Tractors director David Temple said nationally annual tractor sales were close to returning to volumes last seen three years ago - about 2200. Last year, just over 1400 were sold. He had taken on four extra staff this year to cater for the workload and intended employing another part-time worker. Mosgiel's Norwoods Farm Machinery manager, Tony Mobbs, said manufacturers were struggling to keep pace with demand. Demand was across the board for tractors, cultivation and harvesting equipment. Last week alone he sold two new hay balers worth $140,000 and $157,000. Staff were working seven days a week and he had employed three extra people this year and was looking to employ more. "It has been a long time coming and there is the flow-on effect," he said. Managing director of J. J. Ltd, in Invercargill, Dave Jones said demand was coming from sheep, beef and dairy farmers as well as contractors. "It is the best I have seen in 10 years," he said. His company had employed another three staff to meet the increased workload. John Stumbles, the sales manager of McLarens Machinery in Mosgiel, said a shortage of tractors and machinery meant there was a three-month delivery delay. Machinery farmers once would have fixed was now being replaced, Mr Stumbles said. He has employed one extra person. Farmers were generally buying larger tractors to utilise larger implements which were now available and reduce the time taken for tasks such as cultivation, he said. Time to start developing `export markets' in the North Island?
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