Australia Farm Confidence at Two-Year Low, Bank Says

By Madelene Pearson

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Farmer confidence in Australia, the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter, dropped to the lowest in two years as the global financial crisis weighed on sentiment, Rabobank Groep NV said.

The rural confidence survey showed 48 percent of farmers expect conditions to worsen, up from 39 percent in the previous quarter, the world’s largest agricultural lender said today in an e-mailed report. Only 16 percent of farmers expect conditions to improve, down from 23 percent previously, it said.

The Reuters/Jeffries CRB Index of 19 raw materials slumped 45 percent in the past year as the worldwide recession sapped demand for commodities and prices dropped. Farmer confidence in Australia has dropped the past four quarters.

“The decline in confidence appeared to be more indicative of farmers’ concerns about the future negative impact of the global financial crisis, rather than a reflection of anything that had actually been experienced,” Peter Knoblanche, Rabobank’s general manager rural Australia said in the statement. The biggest declines in confidence were among sheep, beef and dairy producers, the bank said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net