Within this total, exports of agricultural equipment slipped marginally to £1.53 billion, largely due to a sharp fall in exports of tractor engines; excluding them, exports were up 7%.

Exports of outdoor power products rose by nearly a third to £229 million, largely due to increased shipments of non-agricultural mowers.

Stephen Howarth Agricultural Economist at the AEA said, "The EU remains our key trading partner taking 62% of all exports, up from 60% in 2015. Other European destinations accounted for a further 7%, while North America's share of exports declined to 17%. "

The major 10 individual country markets for overall exports of the main agricultural machinery categories* are given below, which shows that Germany overtook the USA to become the leading market for UK exports for the first time. The USA had been the leading market for seven of the previous eight years.

Top 10 UK Ag Engineering export markets - Jan-Dec (with 2016 £000 value)

• Germany, £187,536
• U.S.A, £182,335
• France, £164,282
• Irish Republic, £134,802
• Sweden, £68,420
• Canada, £62,772
• Italy, £61,729
• Australia, £41,485
• Spain, £39,949
• Netherlands, £37,937