Australia: Dealer decrease affects suppliers. (International News).

In 1986, there were 2,600 farm machinery dealers operating in Australia. The Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia reported that at the end of June 2001 the country had a total of 593 dealers with 714 retail outlets. Of these, 400 dealers, operating a total of 502 outlets, have at least one major franchise and 193 businesses, with 212 retail outlets, are operating without a major franchise. The end result of this decrease and change in retail format is that some suppliers are being forced to look outside the established farm machinery dealer network to find a retail outlet for their products.

TMA executive director, Vin Delahunty, said it is ironic that at the same time the number of dealers keeps decreasing, farmers have even more tractors to choose from than they did just 18 months ago because of new products coming into the market, changed distribution arrangements or relaunching of known brands. For the first time, buyers are offered Benyle, Daedong, Dong Feng, East Wind, Jinma, McCormack, Rhino and S-Tec tractors. Landini, Rusus and Valmet have new distributors, and Belarus and Renault have been relaunched into the Australian market. This has occurred since the merger of the Case corporation and New Holland companies into CNH.