(29 January 2008 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank’s Agri Indicators report shows that the agribusiness sector remains resilient in the face of a weakening sharemarket.CBA’s report reveals that the agribusiness sector has significantly outperformed the broader market by 13.5 percent, giving investors a total return of 3.2 percent compared with the broader market, which has shed 10.3 percent over the same period.
The bank said the report shows continuing good news for agribusiness investors with forecast returns at around 35 percent, twice the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
CBA’s executive general manager for Agribusiness, Jon Sutton, said the report showed growing confidence at the farmgate, despite the market woes inflicted by the US driven credit crunch.
Sutton said agribusinesses had been buoyed by good summer rains and this sentiment was flowing through to the investor community.
He said the January Agri Indicators report showed the agribusiness sector could remain resilient in a wider bear market.
The report highlighted the strong run of the sector over the last 12 months, giving investor returns of 42.8 percent year on year, compared with 6.3 percent for the S&P/ASX 200.