The March survey of the CEMA Business Barometer shows that the global economic crisis is affecting also the agricultural machinery industry. The business climate index dropped to a value of -70 while 6 months earlier it still had been at +50. Two third of the participating companies expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation.

The pre-invitations for the CEMA/CECE Summit 2009 have been sent out recently. The event is expected to gather 250 participants in Brussels: Senior industry managers from the agricultural machinery industry and construction equipment sector as well as the European partners of the industry like politicians and legislators of the European Commission, members of the new European Parliament, representatives of sister associations etc.

Will agricultural tractor manufacturers be able to benefit from an enlarged flexibility provision when offering new Stage IIIB tractors in 2011? The extremely costly re-design of all models could then better be distributed over time, avoiding peak costs in years of low demand.

As far as stage II is concerned cat D is in the scope with CI engines of 18kW. However at stage IIIA and cat III Bthey talk of categories K and P respectively of 19 kW. What about engines of 18 kW today?

CEMA President Federico Corradini end of May participated in a meeting of the Orgalime Board. In addition to discussions about common key issues of the engineering industry the meeting also included an exchange of opinions with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Gunter Verheugen. CEMA President Corradini had the chance to explain the economic situation of the sectort and request the enlarged engine emissions flexibility for agricultural machines and tractors as part of the crisis management. Vice-President Verheugen, who is the responsible Commissioner for Industry, positively reacted on the request and promised to follow-up the subject.

The European Commission suggests improving the existing directive on late payment to improve the efficiency. The focus of the revision is on payment delays of public authorities, which shall be forced to pay within 30 days or pay flat-rate compensation in addition to interest.

The battery directive also applies to our industries. This paper gives an overview of the requirements of the directive, the different types of batteries and what needs to be done by distributors/dealers…

The European Commission will carry out two more impact assessments and the directive will also be adapted to the so called “New Legal Framework”. Also the question has been raised if the Commission’s noise database will disappear or not.

A delegation of CEMA met mid-May with the Russian ambassador to the EU. The meeting focused on the concerns of the European agricultural machinery industry about the protective measure taken by the Russian government to limit imports of agricultural machines.

The group consisting of the market experts of the national associations met end of April for their regular bi-annual meeting in Paris. The agenda included an intensive exchange of opinions on the market development in the respective countries.

The battery directive also applies to our industries. This paper gives an overview of the requirements of the directive, the different types of batteries and what needs to be done by distributors/dealers…

To find out more email us: info@cema-agri.org

CEMA will organize the first European event that will bring together 250 senior managers from the European agricultural machinery and construction equipment industry with European politicians and European Commission staff.

Federico Corradini, President of CEMA, met with the Presidents of the European sister associations, Dr. Tim Leverton from CECE (construction equipment) and Mike Hawkins from Euromot (engines) to discuss how a common pro-active approach regarding engine emissions of non-road mobile machines could be developed.

Real agricultural income fell by 3.5% in the EU in 2008 – after increasing by 9.3% in 2007 - while the value of agricultural output at basic prices rose by 3.9%, according to estimates published, on 2 April, by Eurostat.

The CEMA products groups, ‘Soil Working Equipment’ group, ‘Sprayers’ group and Fertilizer Spreaders’,’ Seed Drills and Precision Seed Drills’ group, met in Kutno Poland to discuss in detail the economic situation for their products en any relevant technical legislative issues. The practical aspects and visit to their factory was very well organized by Kongskilde. The members agreed on new statutes, which define the groups more under the wings of CEMA. This opens up the way for more active contribution in possible technical issues with a larger impact on European decision making. The success of these groups and their CEMA anchorage could be seen as a call for new groups to be formed…

One large standard will be the reference harmonized standard under the Machinery Directive for performing a risk assessment and taking the necessary actions on risk reduction: EN ISO 12100. It will replace three standards and should be out sometime in 2009…

Strong forces were pushing that from 2011 onwards electric motors should all be from class IE3. This energy class provides the highest efficiency but is much more expensive and alternative solutions are possible says industry…

The European Commission wished to implement a place for discussion to enhance the exchanges between the scientific parties and stakeholders concerning arable crops competitiveness, in order to strengthen its analysis of research priorities. EUROCROP aims to define a common vision for the future of research and development related to arable crops and proposes a strategic research plan for the arable crops (AC) sector in 2015. The old CEMA was part of the EUROCROP team and followed up the situation.