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Highlights

• Global financial and economic conditions have moved significantly in recent months, with the intensification of the global credit crisis. In this Report we consider the implications for commodities and regional Australia of the credit crisis and the associated deterioration in world economic growth prospects
• Global commodity prices, not surprisingly, corrected sharply lower during September and October. Commodity price forecasts for 2009 have in general been marked down as a result. For Australian commodity prices there are some key points to be mindful of in this time of general 'doom and gloom'. The Australian dollar is playing a cushioning role, as it typically does during such volatile times
• Moreover, a feature of this global economic cycle is the wedge between conditions in the advanced economies and emerging markets. The advanced economies are expected to stall in 2009. The silver lining is that in the emerging economies, growth is slowing not slumping. This is significant because of the increasingly important role of emerging countries demand for a number of commodities, both soft and bulks
• Also, it is important not to lose sight of key underlying structural fundamentals for many commodities. These fundamentals will reassert themselves as the current global slowdown passes.

The report is available below in both PDF and RTF formats. Access previous issues in our archives.

Background information on this report can be found at the bottom of this page.

Regional Economic Report - PDFs

Executive summary (PDF 36kb)

Full report (PDF 825kb)

Sections

Australian dollar outlook (PDF 69kb)

Australian Interest Rates (PDF 234kb)

Wheat and oilseeds (PDF 101kb)

Base metals (PDF 79kb)

Sugar, cotton and wool (PDF 53kb)

Beef, dairy and sheep (PDF 64kb)

Resources (PDF 60kb)

World growth outlook (PDF 51kb)

Regional Economic Report - RTFs

Executive summary (RTF 11kb)

Full report (RTF 68kb)

Sections

Australian dollar outlook (RTF 11kb)

Australian Interest Rates (RTF 12kb)

Wheat and oilseeds (RTF 10kb)

Base metals (RTF 11kb)

Sugar, cotton and wool (RTF 12kb)

Beef, dairy and sheep (RTF 11kb)

Resources (RTF 17kb)

World growth outlookl (RTF 13kb)

Background Information

Objective	To provide economic insight and forecasts into key industries focusing on commodity prices and financial indicators relevant to regional Australia, including an outlook on interest rates and the Australian dollar.
Author	The report is produced by Westpac. Its editor is Justin Smirk, Westpac Senior Agribusiness Economist.
Frequency	Quarterly
Data Source	Data is collected from various sources with all forecasts and commentary provided by Westpac's specialist economic team