The country is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of dairy products. Since Warrnambool Cheese and Butter was first approached by a bidder in September it has attracted two other suitors. WCB’s shares have doubled, and trading activity has risen 15-fold. The group now trades on 60 times trailing earnings, making it the...

As Chinese officials expanded support for agriculture, they began to rely on raising price supports to maintain net returns to farmers. China became the largest market for U.S. agricultural exports as its rising prices eroded the relative competitiveness of Chinese commodities. Chinese officials have signaled intentions to keep increasing...

Courtesy of AustCham Hong Kong I am attending  ASIFMA’s Annual Conference with the theme for this first-of-a-kind, two-day event ‘Developing Asia’s Capital Markets’. The conference is an industry-wide occasion, providing a unique opportunity for global and regional policy makers, high-level regulators and industry representatives from both sell-side and buy-side...

Why not let agriculture benefit from foreign investment Why do we clamour to keep foreign-owned car makers here, paying them billions of dollars to stay, while being wary of foreign investment in farms? Around 0.1% of foreign investment last year was in agriculture, with mining receiving 30%, manufacturing close...

“Farmers should participate equally and enjoy the fruits of modernisation,”  communiqué from the third plenum of the 18th Central Committee That was all the Chinese Government has to say about the most important challenge facing the economy. John Clemmow at Barclays Research states that he for one is  not...

Deloitte Australia have released their Positioning  for Prosperity report this week and Deloitte  identifies five “super-growth industry sectors” that they forecast will collectively contribute an additional $250 billion to the Australian economy over the next 20 years. These five industries would form the backbone of a powerful new diversified...

Middle power meets Middle Kingdom: Abbott looks to China Tony Abbott’s initial forays into foreign relations are exceeding expectations. True, the bar was set pretty low for many critics, but the new team is clearly intent on sending positive signals about the importance of Asia in particular. The big...

A topic which warrants inclusion in Joe Hockey’s planned Financial System Inquiry — but probably won’t make it in — is the regulatory and institutional impediments to Islamic finance. The 2% of the Australian population who want these Sharia-compliant products face significant problems in accessing them. The following piece...

Hockey sets judgment date for GrainCorp bid Treasury Joe Hockey has announced he will make a decision on the controversial $3.4 billion bid by the US giant Archer Daniels Midland for the Australian agribusiness GrainCorp by December 17. The acquisition bid is highly controversial with the Nationals particularly concerned...

In the dairy world, bigger is better, says David Williams, who is advising Bega Cheese Ltd on its attempted takeover of Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Ltd. Williams, founder of boutique advisory firm Kidder Williams, forecasts further Asian investment in dairy exporters along the lines of a deal last year...