prices

Farmers are calling on the Federal Government to implement competition reforms that will tackle cost of living pressures. NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle said the ACCC had made a number of recommendations in its 2020 Perishable Agricultural Goods Inquiry that would bring food prices down for consumers, but so far they had been largely ignored.

The nation is on track to plant an impressive 23.48 million hectare winter crop this year – up slightly on last year’s crop area – Rabobank says in its newly-released 2023/24 Australian Winter Crop Outlook ... overall harvest totals are forecast to be lower than last season, with expectations of drier growing conditions due to the likely transition to an El Nino climate cycle, the specialist agribusiness bank says.

Farm fertiliser "affordability" is starting to improve across the globe, with a likely recovery in application in some regions in 2023, Rabobank says in a recently-released report ... The report, titled Improved Affordability Ahead, says global fertiliser prices had begun to trend higher in 2021 due to supply chain constraints resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australia’s beef sector is set for a return to "more normal" market conditions in the season ahead, after a recent extraordinary period marked by record prices levels and volatility, according to Rabobank’s Australian Beef Seasonal Outlook 2023. But while prices are projected to track in a narrower range – at close to current levels – through the year, this is still "historically high’ and expectations are that beef producer margins will remains strong, the agribusiness banking specialist says.

Tonight’s ‘cost of living’ budget is a missed opportunity to address food price inflation, according to Australia’s peak farm body. National Farmers’ Federation President, Fiona Simson, said the budget does nothing to get to the heart of rampant food price inflation – which NFF polling shows is weighing on the minds of 8 in 10 Australians.

The Government will act on Treasury’s key recommendation to achieve a fairer return from offshore LNG projects by introducing a cap on the use of deductions from 1 July 2023. Specifically, the change will limit the proportion of Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) assessable income that can be offset by deductions to 90 per cent.

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released on 26 April 2023, shows annual top-line Australian food price inflation had slowed to 8.0 per cent in the March 2023 quarter, from 9.2 per cent seen in the previous (December 2022) quarter. Rabobank senior food retail analyst Michael Harvey said while this easing was good news for consumers ... the figure was still well above the long-term (10-year) average of food inflation of 2.2 per cent.

Australian agricultural commodity prices took another downward turn last month with the NAB Rural Commodities Index* now 19.7 per cent below year-ago levels. Lower beef, lamb, canola, dairy and wool prices saw the Index fall 3.6 per cent month-on-month, according to the bank’s April Rural Commodities Wrap released on 26 April 2023.

For now, the orange juice market is staying tight for at least another season, unless there is a significant supply-side surprise for the 2023/24 harvest in Brazil or a much sharper contraction in global demand in 2H 2023. According to a recent Rabobank report, record-high orange juice (OJ) prices in 2023 are a consequence of a very tight market, with smaller-than-expected production and low inventories.

Queensland’s 2023 sugarcane crush is just weeks away and once again growers are heading into harvest with a sense of trepidation and optimism.  CANEGROWERS Chairman Owen Menkens says a recent spike in the world sugar price, coupled with a drop in fertiliser prices, is setting up 2023 as a bumper year for Queensland’s sugarcane industry.