Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry

Australia, with its vast spaces, technical expertise and diverse climates, produces a wide range of highly sought after agricultural, fisheries and forestry products, and is internationally recognised as being free of many of the insects and agricultural diseases found in other parts of the world. Australia's location in the Southern Hemisphere also makes it ideally situated to supply counter-seasonal produce to markets in Asia, Europe and America during their winter months.

Beef

Australia is one of the world's leading producers of cattle and was the world's second largest exporter of beef after Brazil in 2004-05.

Each year, Australian's eat an estimated 36.2 kg of beef per person.
Australia currently exports over 65 per cent of its total beef production.
Australia is free of diseases such as BSE and FMD and has strict quarantine proposals designed to ensure that our disease-free status is maintained.
The value of Australia's total beef exports in 2004-05 was approximately A$4.9 billion.
The value of Australia's total live cattle exports in 2004-05 was approximately A$464 million.

Cotton

Australia has excelled at producing high quality cotton.

Australia exported A$771 million worth of cotton in 2004-05.
The major markets for Australian cotton are Indonesia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Japan and China.

Dairy

The dairy industry is one of Australia's largest primary industries.

Australian dairy exports are valued at over A$2 billion annually.
Australia exports approximately 50 per cent of its milk production.
Australia accounts for 16 per cent of world dairy product exports and is ranked third in terms of world dairy trade.
Major dairy export markets for Australia include Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

Fisheries

Australia's fisheries are fortunate in being able to operate in one of the world’s cleanest environments.

Australia's annual fisheries production is worth about A$2.2 billion.
Each year, Australian fisheries produce around 266 000 tonnes of seafood.
Australia exports around A$1.65 billion of seafood per year, mostly to Japan, Hong Kong and other Asian countries.
Australia’s major market for edible fisheries product is Japan (A$489 million). Hong Kong (A$381 million) and the United States (A$125 million) are the next major markets.

Food

The food industry is a vital component of Australia's economy, and accounts for 46 per cent of total retailing turnover in Australia.

Australia's total food exports have grown to reach A$24 billion in 2004-05, this figure is 19 per cent of the total of all Australian merchandise exports.
The food processing industry was valued at over A$65.9 billion in 2002-03 (turnover), employs over 194,000 people (2004-2005), and contributes a net trade surplus of A$17.5 billion to the Australian economy, making it Australia’s largest manufacturing industry.

Forestry

As Australia's second largest manufacturing industry, forestry and wood products employ over 86 000 people and have a turnover of around A$15 billion a year. 13,400 people are directly employed in the forestry and logging sector. Australia’s sustainable forest management is amongst the best in the world.

15 per cent of Australia’s 164 million hectares of native forest is set aside in conservation reserves.
About 44 per cent of Australia’s rainforests, 18 per cent of Australia's open forests and 11 per cent of Australia's woodlands are in conservation areas.
Only 13.3 million hectares of these forests (8 per cent of total forest area) are available for timber production.
In 2004-05, exports of Australian forest products totalled A$2.1 million.

Grain

Australia's warm climate and clean environment produces some of the world's best grains.

Total Australian grain exports are worth over A$5 billion annually.
Export grains include wheat, rice, barley, maize, oats, sunflowers, chick peas and cotton seed.
Wheat is Australia's most important grain crop - Australia exports about
A$4 billion worth of wheat each year, and accounts for 14 per cent of the world's export demand.
Production of grains in Australia expanded by over 41 per cent between 1994-95 and 2004-05, in this time the area sown to grains increased 10 per cent.

Horticulture

Horticulture is one of Australia's largest industries, and produces a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, nuts, nursery products and cut flowers.

In 2004-05 the total export value of fresh and processed horticultural produce was A$1.150 billion.
Major horticultural sectors include grapes, macadamias, garden plants, cut flowers, potatoes, citrus fruits and apples.
Among Australia's most important export markets for horticulture are Japan, the USA, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Wine

The Australian wine industry is internationally renowned for its full-flavour quality wines. Australian wines reflect both the personality of their region of origin and the innovative winemakers who nurture them.

Australian wine exports reached A$2.7 billion in 2004-05.
In the same period, Australia exported more than 670 million litres of wine.
The five major export markets for Australian wine are the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Canada and Germany. Other markets include Japan, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Singapore.

Wool

Australia is a world leader in the production of high quality wool.

Australia is the world’s largest supplier of wool, producing 42 percent of the world’s greasy wool in 2004-05.
In 2004-05 Australian wool exports were worth A$2.8 billion.
In 2004-05 Australia produced around 525 kilotonnes of wool.
Around 85 per cent of all Australian sheep are merinos, which produce the finest wool of all sheep breeds.
Australia's major wool export markets include China, Italy, India, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, France and Germany.

Sugar

Sugar is one of Australia's largest export crop.

The value of Australian sugar exports in 2003-04 was around A$0.98 billion.
Australia's export markets for sugar include Canada, Korea, Malaysia, Japan and the USA.