prices

Australia’s cattle market is sitting in a "state of balance" – with improved beef production waiting on an increase in demand – but an upside in prices is expected towards the end of the year, Rabobank says in its Australian Beef Seasonal Outlook 2024. The current absence of any strong demand – along with a higher herd inventory, with no real liquidation or rebuilding urgency...

Australian beef cattle prices are expected to remain elevated over the next year, supported by improved restocker demand on the back of better seasonal conditions and healthy export demand. NAB’s Beef in Focus Report released today reports that after falling to a nine-year low in October 2023, reaching 349c/kg, the benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) is now above the 2015-19 average.

Doug Robson. The influx of cattle coming onto the market is taking a toll on prices for all classes of cattle.  There were 1934 head yarded at the NRLX on Wednesday, April 17 with the main increase being in the young cattle section.

Global vegetable trade value rose amid cost increases; production down in some major markets. The value of the global vegetable trade rose in line with rising prices, reaching 3 per cent average annual growth from 2017 to 2022, according to Rabobank’s recently-published World Vegetable Map.

Shaun Hollis. Combined, the Yorke Peninsula, Barossa and Mid North regions have recorded the largest annual home price rise of any regional area in Australia in the past year, new data has revealed ... Housing Industry Association SA regional director Stephen Knight said home affordability and availability are two of the state’s most critical challenges.

Australian consumers are facing higher chocolate prices heading into Easter, as global cocoa prices soar, according to Rabobank data. The global agribusiness banking specialist says data analysis shows Australian retail chocolate prices overall are up 8.8 per cent on the previous year.

Australia’s grain growers are looking to improved prospects in the season ahead, with 2024/25 gross margins set to increase on the back of a lower cost of production, Rabobank says in newly-released research report ... The report, Australia’s winter crop gross margins – which analyses winter crop performance from 2017/2018 – forecasts 2024/25 average gross margins for the three major Australian winter crops (wheat, barley and canola)...

The Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices continues its hearings in Melbourne ... having heard repeated incidences of poor - if not unconscionable - behaviour by supermarkets from consumers and growers alike in Hobart and yesterday in Orange. Chair of the NFF Horticulture Council Jolyon Burnett said evidence and testimony from growers and industry representatives had already painted a bleak picture of the unbalanced trading relationship between major supermarkets and fresh produce suppliers.

With limited or negative real wages growth expected in 2024, coupled with the higher cost environment, Rabobank expects global beef consumption will at best remain steady and possibly decline through 2024, with some notable regional variations ... sales are often expected to suffer when economic conditions put pressures on consumer spending.