Cheffins has reported a successful second quarter as higher commodity prices and strong BPS payments provide UK-based farmers a welcome boost following Brexit woes since 2016.
With six on-farm auctions having taken place in Q2 2018, total gross sales have topped £3.4m over a total of 1,872 lots. Auctions have occurred the width and breadth of the country with a series of high-quality sales in locations including Herefordshire, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Cheshire and throughout East Anglia and the East Midlands. The top selling lot for Q2 was a 2013 John Deere S680 combine harvester, which sold for £149,000.
Of the six sales which took place in the past three months, the majority were the result of UK farmers entering into joint ventures with neighbouring landowners or trading up farm machinery for larger, higher horse powered kit as acreages increase. The on-farm sales have also seen increasing numbers of UK farmers in attendance, looking to pick up top quality second-hand items in place of buying new.
Bill King, Chairman, Cheffins comments: “Higher BPS payments and rising commodity prices have created favourable conditions within the market which has led to a number of farmers entering into joint ventures or releasing capital from farms in order to trade up machinery or buy more land.
"This has directly led to a series of high value on-farm sales as UK-farmers begin to bounce back from the uncertainty experienced following the Brexit vote. Whilst it cannot be denied that the future of subsidies remains unclear, the combination of positive factors within the market has helped the industry to start to return to normal. In a similar vein, we have seen a marked increase in the number of end-users attending auctions in order to trade up kit, illustrating improved confidence within UK agriculture.
"Another driving force in the market for second-hand machinery is UK-based dealers attending on-farm sales as they look to underpin stock following high demand over the past six months. It has become clear in recent months that many farmers are not stopping expansion plans due to Brexit and the spring in farming’s step is a welcome change from the doom and gloom which has been sensed by many since June 2016.
"We have also seen an uplift in the numbers of overseas buyers at on-site sales, from Eastern Europe, Spain or Ireland in the main, and the competition between these and UK buyers has helped to push up prices for the best quality machinery. The option for online bidding at on-farm sales has also helped to increase Cheffins’ customer base and ensured that these sales make as high prices for items as within any other environment. The number of on-farm sales conducted by Cheffins has doubled in the past three years and with an already busy diary for the remainder of 2018, we expect these to continue to rise in popularity.”