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Rural business conditions deteriorate
4 May 2004
Conditions in the agribusiness sector deteriorated in the March 2004 quarter, according to National Australia Bank's latest survey. NAB said conditions have declined "noticeably and unexpectedly", with only about half of the agribusinesses reporting satisfactory conditions in the quarter.
The main negative factors were a currency that's still too high, subdued export sales and decreasing sales margins. Confidence was poor overall, especially in the wine and sugar sub-sectors.
NAB said, however, that for the June quarter agribusiness conditions are expected to improve significantly and be well above the March quarter, although remaining weaker than other parts of the non-farm business sector.
Tradingroom.com.au, 3/5/04.
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