Australian Business News and Times

Business News ,Reports and Times of Australia

2011-12

Are Australian Wineries in trouble ?

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Sales figures show that wine sales slipped 3.3% in 2010/11 – the first fall in 15 years and
largest drop in annual wine sales for 22 years. Australian consumers have been  spending less on the spirits ad this has affected the Australian wine market.

While the sales of Australian wines  have gone down, French wines have been doing pretty well. French wine only accounts for 1.7% of all wine sales, but the share has doubled in the past five years. Apart from the low domestic demand in Australia  the high Australian dollar and domestic over-supply of grapes have also  affected the wine markets.

Some of the more popular wine growing region s in australia  is the Hunter Valley ( NSW,VIC), Swan valley , Margaret river( WA), Port Phillip and Gippsland ( Greater Victoria)

wines australia sales production

The wine grape production for the year 2009-10 is estimated by the ABS to be 1.53 million tones, around 9 percent lower than  the 2008-2009 harvest. The wine industry has been  affected by scarce water supplies in some regions and in some parts of south eastern Australia  also by the heat wave. In Victoria many  winegrowers was affected by the floods and outbreaks of  disease due to damp and humid conditions. The Murray darling  Swan hill zone has  been affected by disease  affecting wine production  in early parts of the year.

Red wine grapes have been the farmers popular choice in cultivation of production in 2009-10 with  it accounting for the total of 55%

The Popular grape variety cultivated by farmers in 2009-10

1. Shiraz

2. Chardonnay

3. Cabernet-Sauvignon

vineyards wine sales figures 2011 2012

The forecast for   2011 –12 is for the wine  grape production to increase by 10 %  taking into account vines reaching full production, but so far the weather is playing a dampener on  good wine grape production and these results could get affected by any major disruptions in weather.

For more detailed information  on  wine grape  production statistics you can visit  www.abs.gov.au and www.abares.gov.au

The Budget for Australians 2011

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The “2011 AUSTRALIAN Budget” is here  and as predicted  by swan they would be some cuts ,  the budget was quite boring  with just some nip and tucks in a few places.It  was nothing extra ordinary , in fact some people  might  also say it was a bit over cautious , not  to upset too many people.

australian-flag budget 2010 2011

Commodities boom to being back Budget 2011 in surplus in 2 years time

While the australian budget  focused on providing jobs , it also made it  tougher for the dole bludgers to get more out of the system. It did not have much changes in relation to property investment and real estate in the 2011 budget , for which many might have had a sigh of relief.

So to make it simple lets just focus on what is going up in the budget  and what is going down in this 2011 Budget

Australia Budget 2011 -What is going up? (Less benefits or costs increase)

  • Means test for high income earners for family payments (Less benefits)
  • Low income tax offset  taken away to discourage  people doing investment in the name of the children to take adavantage of the Investment offset for teens
  • Entrepreneurs’ tax offset is gone
  • Cuts to public service funding ( efficiency dividends)
  • Families: Family Tax Benefit will be cut off when children turn 21 instead of 24, saving $29.2 million over four years

Australia Budget 2011 -What is going Down? (More benefits received & Costs decrease)

  • More apprenticeships (jobs & training) available to the Australian people ( by creation of the $558 million National workforce development fund)
  • $5000 tax break for small business vehicles.
  • $2.2 bn given for mental health sector services over five years
  • Raise tax free threshold to $16,000 for low income earners
  • Lower tax on bank savings with 50% discount on upto $1000 interest income
  • Tax returns simplified with a $500 standard deduction for work-related expenses, without need of receipts, rising to $1000 from 2013.
  • Applicants for disability support pension will first go on the dole and then have to prove that they cannot get work.
  • Company tax falls to 28 per cent for small business from 2012-2013.
Budget predictions 2011

Considering  that  Australia has been hit with  the “yasi cyclones” in the eastern states  majorly affecting the booming  mining industry and  agricultural industry  and also the “fires and floods in western Australia” , this budget back to surplus in  2years is a good suprise.

  • Economy expected to grow by 3.25 % in 2010- 11
  • Unemployment rate set to fall to 4.75 % in 2011-12

The full Australian budget paper is available at  http://www.budget.gov.au/ and get the “WA State Budget over here”

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Cats eating more fish that their owners

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“In many cases they are eating better quality fish than their owners”. Leading this fishy business is the US, where more than 1.1 million tonnes of small forage fish, including sardines, herrings and anchovies, go into cat food.

Each cat in Australia eats 13.7 kilograms of fish a year, while humans on average consume about 11 kilograms of fish and seafood each.

“Good fish is being wasted because of some pet owners’ hedonistic needs when feeding their pets.”  GOURMET meals dished up to pampered pets could be threatening world fish supplies, Victorian scientists have warned. 2,48 million tonnes of “forage” fish ie sardines, herrings and anchovies, are being consumed by the world’s cat population via the cat food industry, each year.That means about 13.7 kg per putty cat, purr year. Note, that is, only if you have an Aussie cat, not all global cats are so lucky (or included in the study).

canned Cat Food

“Australian pet cats are eating better than their owners,” Friggin felines are messing with our fish supplies and denying third world countries. A recent report draws attention to the cat food industry’s use of forage fish, which includes sardines and herrings and is considered a limited biological resource.researchers have discovered that cats eat 2 and a half tons of real fish each year and not only that, it’s the good stuff. In other words cats are eating fish that could be consumed by humans when they could be eating the guts, heads and the rest of the offal. Read more here  @ http://www.australianstockwatch.com/2008/08/each-cat-in-australia-eats-137.html