Monday, June 24, 2013

Australia Mining and Information Technology Q3 Market 2013

Australia Mining Report Q3 2013

Despite the cooling of the mining boom, Australia will remain a leading player in many segments of the global mining industry. We expect the value of the mining sector to reach US$107bn by 2017, growing at an annual average rate of 4.3% over our forecast period. This will see the mining sector’s share of GDP increasing from 5.6% in 2012 to 7.6% in 2017.

Australia will remain a leading player in many segments of the global mining industry given its rich deposits of minerals including iron ore, nickel, bauxite, copper, gold, silver, uranium, diamonds, zinc and coal. We expect the value of the mining sector to reach US$107bn by 2017, growing at an annual average rate of 4.3% over our forecast period. This will see the mining sector’s share of GDP increasing from 5.6% in 2012 to 7.6% in 2017.


Key Forecasts

- Soybean production growth to 2016/17: 33.6% to 88.8mn tonnes. We expect global prices to stay the most supported among the grains, which will encourage farmers to favour soy at the expense of corn in the medium term. Also, global demand is likely to pick up, which will continue to provide farmers with incentives to invest in their soybean crop.
- Poultry consumption growth to 2017: 18.9% to 10.9mn tonnes. This will come from a growing middle class and the general preference for poultry over all other meat groups because of its health properties and lower prices.
- Cotton production growth to 2016/17: -23.4% to 7.1mn tonnes. Our outlook for prices to continue to recover will help production growth in the coming years. Nevertheless, prices will not return to their previous 2011 highs and will moderate by the end of our forecast period, which will lead production growth to stall by 2015/16.
- 2013 real GDP growth: 3.3% (forecast to average 3.7% over 2012-2017).
- 2013 consumer price inflation: 3.1% average.
- BMI universe agribusiness market value: 4.4% year-on-year increase to US$173.3bn in 2013,
forecast to increase by an average of 3.2% annually between 2011/12 and 2016/17.

Australia Information Technology Report Q3 2013
Australian IT sales are expected to reach AUD26.413bn in 2013, up 4%, with the market continuing to offer opportunities despite business concerns about a domestic economic slowdown and the global economic situation. Tablet sales growth is compensating for the decline in desktop and notebook shipments, while investments in broadband infrastructure are boosting Australia’s digital economy, and enabling wider adoption of services such as cloud computing, online banking and e-commerce. Highincome consumers make Australia a fertile ground for premium devices such as tablets and ultrabooks, while government tenders will also be supportive of spending levels in areas such as education, egovernment, transport and healthcare.