The result of the Brexit vote last June is starting to take its toll on Irish machinery dealers as buyers head to the UK in search of deals arising from the devalued sterling.

“It’s made a big difference, everyone is talking about it. There’s certainly been a drop in enquiries,” said New Holland dealer Billy Shaw.

“The tractor trade is not steady at all at the moment. We’ve seen a major change” said Pat Brogan from Strokestown, Co Roscommon. “I’ve had people that bought tractors in the North or in England come to us to get their tractors fixed.”

Some dealers would say it hasn’t affected them. According to Gary Ryan from the FTMTA, there aren’t as many good deals in the UK as you would imagine. “The type of tractors people want are not in England as they haven’t been selling as many new machines in big volumes in the last few years,” he said, adding that anyone who buys in the UK is taking a “leap into the unknown” in terms of service history. “They’re all heading up in price over there too, firstly because the English dealers are trying to ensure they get their cut out of the exchange rate which is an advantage for Ireland at the moment, and secondly new machines imported to the UK will be more expensive now anyway.”

Tractor sales in Ireland have increased by 2% to date and one dealer said that while “September was sluggish, October sales picked up again more due to farm incomes than anything else.”

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