New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has forecast horticultural export revenues during the year ending June 2016 to rise 16% to NZ$4.8 billion. The expected NZ$668 million boost is led by the recovery of the kiwifruit industry, significant increases in apple exports, continued growth from the wine industry, and assisted by likely favourable exchange rates…. Read more »
Australia’s GrainCorp has planned to invest more than $30 million in a 50-50 joint venture with Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain Corporation to enter into North American market. GrainCorp already runs two container loading sites in Calgary, Alberta, from where it will start operating after joint investment in the grain supply management field with Japan. The partnership… Read more »
Frost, hail, bushfires and variable rain have not stopped West Australian farmers recording an above average harvest this season. The state’s grain handler Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH) said this year’s yield was up about 30 per cent. “It’s a well above average crop, we’ll probably look to receive about 13 million tonnes this harvest, so… Read more »
Australia’s wheat export volumes are expected to increase 2% to 16.9 million tonnes in 2015-16, according to the December quarterly report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science (ABARES). This forecast reflects slightly higher opening stocks, the forecast increase in production and demand growth in some key export markets. The value… Read more »
Australia cut its crop export forecasts, hacking by more than 1m tonnes its expectation for coarse grain shipments, citing factors from “strong competition” in wheat trading to Chinese corn subsidy reforms. Abares, the official Australian commodities bureau, cut by 580,000 tonnes to 16.95m tonnes its forecast for wheat exports from the southern hemisphere’s bigger shipper… Read more »
China’s imports and exports shrank again in November but there were signs a decline in domestic demand might be turning around. Customs data showed exports contracted by 6.8 per cent, accelerating from October’s 3.6 per cent. Imports declined 8.7 per cent, an improvement over the previous month’s 16 per cent fall. A fall in global… Read more »
RISING demand for lentils from around the world has helped push this year’s South Australian lentil crop to a record 189,000 tonnes worth close to $250 million. The latest Australian Crop Report made the optimistic lentil forecast yesterday with South Australia expected to produce well over half the nation’s lentil crop. With the lentil harvest… Read more »
Australian fruit exporters will soon enjoy improved access to the Thailand market after revised import protocols were finalized. Assistant Agriculture Minister Senator Anne Ruston, said the new conditions would make Thailand even more attractive for Australian exporters. “Fruit exports often require a range of treatments and conditions to meet importing country requirements—an important pre-requisite to… Read more »
Mango growers in Western Australia’s north are experiencing one of their hardest seasons on record, with fruit production down by 50 per cent. In the Kimberley, growers have seen a lacklustre season due, in part, to a split flowering this year. Further south in Carnarvon, mango trees were hit hard by Cyclone Olwyn’s damaging winds… Read more »
Australian dried fruit growers are hopeful a reduction in global sultana production will stabilise domestic prices. Drought in the United States and frost and hail damage in Turkey has led to an eight per cent drop in the international sultana crop. Chair of Dried Fruits Australia Mark King said prices for Australian growers will remain… Read more »
As world leaders meet in Paris to set a target to reduce carbon emissions, scientists and farmers fear even the ambitious aim of limiting global warming to two degrees would have huge impacts on Australian farm production, leading to more expensive food prices. Lesley Hughes, a professor of biology at Macquarie University and a councillor… Read more »
Australia’s only irradiation facility with approval for exports to the United States is ready for its first big season of mango deliveries. Irradiation is a technique used to sterilise fruit fly and other insects before products are exported. Brisbane company Steritech earned the American approval in January, becoming one of just eight accredited facilities around… Read more »
Lobby group Voice of Horticulture says growers should have more of a say in the running of the industry’s research and marketing body Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA). It comes as the first AGM for HIA got underway in Sydney, 12 months after the Government restructured it to be entirely grower owned. Horticulture Innovation Australia manages… Read more »
A leading Tasmanian vegetable grower has said confidence in the industry may be much worse than the latest AUSVEG survey has shown. Results from AUSVEG’S latest survey showed grower confidence in the vegetable industry had declined by 3.5 per cent during July to September, when compared to the previous quarter. “Australian vegetable growers are becoming more uncertain about… Read more »
AUSTRALIAN citrus and grape exports to Vietnam are back on the table, following a seven-month suspension. The Vietnamese government stopped issuing import permits for fresh Australian fruit from January 1 this year and sought advice regarding Australia’s management of Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly). According to the Australian Horticultural Exporters Association (AHEA), the Australian horticulture industry… Read more »
Australian Horticultural Exporters Association (AHEA) is a national peak association formed to promote the development of the export and import of fresh horticultural resources. AHEA’s Board and Members are representative stakeholders across the horticulture industry. Background: Australian Horticulture Industry Exports to India Australian exports of fresh fruit were valued in 2014 at approximately $2.7million (ITC… Read more »
AUSVEG’S latest survey has shown a 3.5 per cent dip in confidence among growers, during the July to September quarter. The Grower Confidence Survey involves a selection of ten questions relating to how confident growers feel about key economic indicators, including macroeconomic confidence, investment confidence, market confidence and confidence in government policy. The confidence index… Read more »
India, historically an occasional sugar importer in bulk, will remain an exporter the “next few years at least”, thanks to the enthusiasm among farmers for growing cane – a factor which has ended the country’s notorious sugar cycle too. Historically, India, the world’s second-ranked sugar producer and top consumer, operated on a five-year sugar cycle –… Read more »
