The Westpac and Charles Sturt University (CSU) Agribusiness Index for the December 2007 quarter shows an upturn in agribusiness activity and confidence for regional NSW and northern Victoria.

 

Mr Tom Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of CSU’s Western Research Institute (WRI) at CSU, said NSW received some good rains across the north of the state and this was reflected in its Economic Performance Index (EPI). The EPI is based on the average of results from a survey of farmers and ‘up-stream’ and ‘down-stream’ farming businesses, and gives a value between -1 and 1.

 

Mr Murphy commented that Agribusiness across NSW expressed significantly increased confidence about the performance of their businesses over the next 12 months with confidence up from 51 percent to 71 per cent in all NSW. He noted, however, that “although NSW’s EPI has improved it still remained negative for the whole of 2007”.

 

“Although NSW still has a negative index showing lower business confidence at the moment, it is important to note this survey was carried out before the recent January rains. The improved soil moisture conditions will hopefully have a positive bearing on business confidence across NSW in coming months.”

 

The results across inland NSW were as patchy as the recent rains:

The Westpac and CSU Agribusiness Index is a quarterly survey of Australia’s agribusiness sector conducted by WRI. A telephone survey was conducted with respondents drawn from the 48 statistical divisions of regional Australia, with a mix of both primary producers, and businesses upstream and downstream of the agricultural sector. The December 2007 survey resulted in 1 200 responses.