7501.0 - Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, Preliminary, 2007-08 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/02/2009   
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MEDIA RELEASE
February 10, 2009
Embargoed 11.30 am (AEDT)
5/2009


Good weather, prices push agricultural production up by a quarter: ABS

Better weather, and significantly increased prices for grain crops helped push the overall value of Australia's agricultural production to $44.6 billion (up by 24%) for 2007-08 - according to preliminary figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Cereal and other grain crops had the biggest increase - up by 41% ($25 billion) - as a result of both higher production and prices, while cotton suffered from a severe drop in production (down 44%).

Livestock products (wool, milk and eggs) also went up as higher prices outstripped a fall in production giving an overall increase of 26% (to $7.3 billion).

However, livestock fell slightly to $12.2 billion (down 1%). Increased prices for sheep, lambs and poultry didn't offset falls in cattle, calves and pigs.

Grain sees increases while sugar, cotton and rice fall
    • wheat for grain, up 107% to $5.4 billion (production up by 28%, prices up 62% to $392/tonne)
    • hay production, up 85% to $3.0 billion (production up by 58%, prices up 18% to $366/tonne)
    • barley for grain, up 116% to $2.2 billion (production up by 69%, prices up 28% to $312/tonne)
    • sorghum for grain, up 280% to $1.0 billion (production up by 213%, prices up 21% to $259/tonne)
    • canola, up 196% to $673 million, (production up by 117%, prices up 37% to $542/tonne)
    • sugar cane down 27% to $897 million (production down by 7%, prices down by 21% to $26/tonne)
    • cotton, down 41% to $300 million (production down 44% but prices up by 6%)
    • rice, down 83% to a recent low of $10 million (production down 86% but prices up by 23% to $415/tonne).

Livestock and livestock products
    • cattle and calves fell 7% to $7.4 billion - disposals were down 2%, and prices fell 5%
    • sheep and lambs increased 5% to $2.2 billion - disposals were down 2% but prices went up 7%
    • poultry increased 27% to $1.6 billion - production was up 2% and prices were up 24%
    • pigs fell by 4% to $902 million - disposals were down 2% and prices fell 3%
    • milk increased 44% to $4.6 billion, due to strong prices (up 50%) overcoming a small drop in production (down 4%)
    • wool increased by 1% to $2.3 billion as higher prices (up 11%) were offset by a 9% fall in production
Further details are in Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia 2007-08 (cat. no. 7501.0).