7111.0 - Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary, 2011-12 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/11/2012   
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MEDIA RELEASE
15 November 2012
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
178/2012

Canola and cotton production at record levels

Production levels for cotton and canola increased to record levels in 2011-12, according to preliminary estimates released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

Helen Baird, Director of Rural Environment and Agriculture Statistics, said that the 2012 Agriculture Resource Management Survey showed notable increases in the canola and cotton harvest for the year.

Crops

"The 2011-12 canola harvest has been the largest on record at 3.4 million tonnes, up 38 per cent on the previous record set in 1999-2000," Ms Baird said.

"The biggest increases were reported in Western Australia, which increased by 71 per cent; New South Wales, which went up by 34 per cent; and Victoria, which increased by 42 per cent.

"Production was up due to a significant increase in area planted to canola, which was up 18 per cent, combined with favourable weather conditions and good prices, due to increased demand for canola in Europe for bio-diesel.

"The 2011-12 cotton harvest was also at record levels, producing 944,000 tonnes, which is up by 12 per cent over the previous year. Despite this, there was a slight decrease in the total area planted to cotton.

"Other key crop movements included wheat, which was up by 9 per cent; oats, which were up by 13 per cent; lupins, which were up by 21 per cent; and rice, which was up by 30 per cent.

"Production of sugar cane continued to fall and was down 5 per cent over the previous year, due to flooding in the New South Wales growing area and extreme weather conditions in Queensland," Ms Baird said.

Livestock

"Sheep and lamb numbers remained steady and dairy and meat cattle recorded modest 3 per cent increases in herd sizes over the previous year, to 2.7 million and 25.1 million head respectively.

"The total number of pigs at 30 June 2012 fell to a 40 year low, down by 6 per cent over the previous year, to 2.2 million. Decreases were reported in all states apart from New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory," Ms Baird said.

Preliminary figures from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey are at the State/Territory level. The final estimates will be released from 2013, including additional data cubes for regional geographies and Natural Resource Management regions.

Further details are in Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia (Preliminary) 2010-11 (cat. no. 7111.0) which is available for free download from the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au).



CropProduction change since 2010-11

Barley for grain8,349,000 tonnes4%
Canola3,386,000 tonnes44%
Cotton lint944,000 tonnes12%
Grain sorghum2,223,000 tonnes15%
Lupins for grain977,000 tonnes21%
Oats for grain1,274,000 tonnes13%
Rice for grain941,000 tonnes30%
Sugar cane cut for crushing23,916,000 tonnes-5%
Wheat for grain29,923,000 tonnes9%


LivestockNumberschange since 2010-11

Dairy cattle2,653,0003%
Meat cattle25,146,000-3%
Sheep and lambs72,475,000-1%
Lambs marked34,735,0004%
Pigs2,159,000-6%