March 21, 2012

Global soy shortage lifts Australia's prices

A shortage of soy worldwide is pushing up the prices for Australian growers.

Southern New South Wales is still counting the costs of this month's floods, with the damage to the local soy crops still unknown.

But northern New South Wales growers are set to benefit from a smaller Australian crop and increase in demand globally.

Rabobank commodity analyst Nick Higgins says the shortage is putting an upward pressure on prices.

"South America suffered considerable damage to their 2011/12 crops, and even as they harvest them now things look pretty grim," he said. "And that, alongside not a great crop in the US, has meant that the world stocks of soybeans and corn are looking particularly grim heading into the next year."