Archive for January, 2012

From The Age website, 30 January 2012

Victorian agriculture and food export earnings surged 19 per cent last financial year to $8.1 billion – believed to be a record – thanks largely to a strong performance by dairy and meat producers, rebounding wool and grain exports and improved seasonal conditions.

Exports of the big four agricultural commodity types produced in Victoria all rose strongly, with dairy exports up 11 per cent to $1.96 billion, meat exports up 7 per cent to $1.66 billion, wool exports up 43 per cent to $1.27 billion and grain exports up 65 per cent to $1.13 billion. Victorian dairy exports accounted for 86 per cent of Australian dairy exports. The figures are outlined in the Dept. of Primary Industry’s Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance, 2010-11 report, which is scheduled to be released today.

The biggest buyer in 2010-11 was China, which bought $1.62 billion of Victorian food and fibre products, an increase of $341 million (27 per cent) on the previous year. The second biggest buyer was Japan ($756 million), followed by New Zealand ($433 million), Indonesia ($425 million) and the US ($350 million).

Click here for full article in The Age.

And from the Dairy Australia Dairyweb News, 31 January:

Dairying; Victoria’s export star

Dairy exports led a massive upswing in Victoria’s trade balance last year, according to new DPI data. Dairying was the biggest contributor to the state’s farm exports which rose 19%, or $1.3bn to $8.07bn.

Victorian agriculture and food security minister Peter Walsh praised new access to India for dairy exports as one factor in the upswing, along with recovery from the drought statewide. Victoria made up 86% of Australia’s dairy exports by value. Dairy exports were worth $1.96bn and Japan is the state’s largest market for dairy exports, valued at $353m. A similar result is expected this financial year, according to the DPI report. (Report will be on DPI website shortly)