March 16, 2022

NAB Economics Data Insights: Agriculture – March 2022

The strong seasonal conditions since 2020 have replenished storages and allowed a strong recovery in cotton production.

Overview

This report builds on our existing fortnightly Data Insights series and includes more detail on NAB business customer inflow data across various agricultural industries and states. While the data is quite volatile, we can see the broad impact of seasonal and commodity price changes across a number of commodities. This month, we consider the impact of a record winter crop on customer inflows. 

Business inflows for NAB agriculture, forestry and fishing customers jumped even higher in the new year, reflecting a record winter crop and high commodity prices. ABARES’ latest estimates point to winter crop production up 10.8% 2021-22, with WA up 37.3%. The La Nina has been uneven, with floods in parts of NSW and QLD, but drier than average conditions in other 20% regions.

This is reflected in our customer data to January, with 10% grain customer inflows across VIC, NSW, SA and WA now at the highest level since our series began in 2015. WA has seen particularly strong conditions, with January income around 25% higher than the same period in 2019, when WA growers experienced a strong season combined with strong drought-induced eastern states demand. 

Get all the details in NAB Economics Data Insights: Agriculture – March 2022