Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers conducted its largest ever agriculture auction, in Saskatoon, SK, on December 3, 2013, selling more than US$40+ million of equipment and trucks in a single day. The unreserved public auction also set a new Saskatoon site record for number of bidders: more than 4,350 bidders from 27 countries registered to participate in the auction. Every item in the auction was sold without minimum bids or reserve prices. Bids were made in person at the Company's permanent Saskatoon auction site, online in real time at www.rbauction.com and by proxy.
"To the best of our knowledge, this was the world's largest one-day agriculture equipment auction. Saskatoon has quickly become the agricultural hub of the Ritchie Bros. auction network," said Jordan Clarke, Regional Sales Manager, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. "This was a great year for harvests and optimism for the farm industry is at an all-time high. Bidding was fierce on all equipment categories as farmers were looking to get quality equipment now to put to work next season."
More than 4,350 bidders from 27 countries, including all Canadian provinces and two territories, registered to participate in person or online in the auction—a new site record for Saskatoon. Bidders from outside Saskatchewan purchased more than CA$16 million (US$15+ million) or 38 percent of total gross auction proceeds. More than 2,550 of the bidders taking part in the auction registered to bid online and purchased more than CA$18 million (US$17+ million) of equipment available online.
In total, more than 1,500 equipment items and trucks were sold in the auction for 190 sellers, including equipment for John Deere dealer JayDee AgTech.
"We are very happy with the results on the sale of our equipment—we are especially pleased to be getting great returns on all the work we did to properly maintain and prepare our equipment ahead of the auction," said Travis Moberg, Re-Marketing Manager of JayDee AgTech. "The auction site was jam packed with bidders today—it's the most people I've ever seen at a Ritchie Bros. auction in Saskatoon. On a day like today, when it's cold and snowy outside, Ritchie Bros. can still attract a huge crowd of qualified bidders."
Equipment highlights in the auction included 128 combines, 83 agricultural tractors, 60 headers, 40 swathers, 32 sprayers, 21 air drills and more.