Price rise improves outlook

A SWEETER sugar price has helped fuel an upswing in Queensland farmer confidence with sentiment in the state’s agricultural sector reaching an 18-month high, a Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey has found.

The survey has found close to two-thirds of the state’s sugar producers are expecting conditions to improve in the year ahead, the most positive outlook for the sector in 12 years.

With strong confidence also reported among cotton, beef and grain producers, investment in the state’s agricultural sector is set to increase.

The Queensland investment intentions index – measuring farmers’ plans to invest in their own businesses over the next 12 months – is now at its highest level in the survey’s 20-year history.

The quarterly survey found 43 per cent of Queensland’s primary producers have an optimistic outlook for the agricultural economy in the coming 12 months – up from 37 per cent with that view in the June quarter. Close to half (47 per cent) anticipate similar conditions to last year and just 6 per cent expect a deterioration.