I heard, with surprise, that the French agricultural machinery show, SIMA 2024, has been cancelled. SIMA is regarded as the second largest trade show of agricultural machinery in Europe, AGRITECHNICA, which is held in Germany, being the largest.
EXPOSIMA – the organiser of the SIMA trade show gave many reasons for the cancellation. The wake of the COVID-19 crisis; the war in Ukraine; and raw material and energy price volatility being the main ones.
The show was due to take place at the end of this year from 24 to 27 November. It alternates with AGRITECHNICA, which took place last November. SIMA attracts nearly 200,000 visitors and 1,000 exhibitors and the cancellation has come as a major shock to the industry. Is this a warning shot for future shows and, perhaps even more, is it a warning of the economic outlook for the agricultural machinery industry?
As well as the above mentioned reasons for SIMA not going ahead there are other factors at play. The economic outlook for farmers is not good. They are faced with new regulations, pressure to meet future environmental requirements, and the profitability of their agricultural operations. One only has to listen to the media and see the frustration they are under. This has led farmers to protest on the streets in Ireland and right across Europe.
It is because of all these factors that demand for agricultural machinery has been falling over the past twelve months and is expected to continue in 2024. The European Agricultural Machinery Association, CEMA, recently published their business barometer for February. It showed another continuous fall in demand. If our customers profits are falling then this has a knock-on effect on our own business.
With all this going on in it is probably of no surprise that major exhibitors decided to withdraw from SIMA 2024. A press release from EXPOSIMA said "The farming environment is worsening in 2024, with forecasts of a substantial drop in the agricultural equipment market.” Will future shows be forced to cancel? The last time that trade shows had to cancel was during the COVID-19 crisis. However, these were forced cancellations, due to government restrictions, and were out of the organisers’ control.
Cancelling a show because of the economic climate, especially within the agricultural sector is worrying. Organisers rely on key players to support their shows. Here in Ireland, the FTMTA intend holding their show from 12 to 14 November this year. At the moment there is nothing to suggest otherwise. I also expect that the BTME and LAMMA shows in the UK will also go ahead in early 2025.
The downturn doesn’t seem to be as bad in Ireland. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 2,310 new tractors were registered in Ireland in 2023. Even though it is 58 units less when compared to 2022 (down 2.5%), compared to Europe we have fared a lot better. However, the 2023 figures are down 7.3% on the 2021 figures when 2,491 new tractors were registered.
On the optimistic side, EXPOSIMA say that SIMA will return in November 2026. I do hope that this will be the case.
