Water report outlines issues impacting irrigators

Water trading organisation Waterfind has released its quarterly CEO Report (Q3) for the 2014-2015 irrigation year. The report finds that the national temporary water market has continued to record the highest average prices since the Millennium drought.

Dry conditions and lower water availability kept the demand for temporary water high during Q3 of the 2014-15 irrigation season, while heavy rainfall in April reduced demand only slightly. Within the Southern-Connected system, a major share of demand for temporary water has come from irrigators in Victoria, especially from the Murray, below the Barmah Choke and Goulburn systems.

Meanwhile, national permanent water trading activity was steady and consistent with the trading volumes experienced during previous seasons. Underpinned by the increased confidence and reinvestment in agriculture, as well as lower water availability compared to seasons 2010-2013, average prices have been consistent with the upward trend which started in the latter half of the 2013-14 season. The Commonwealth’s buyback tender in Southern NSW has had minimal impact on entitlement prices.

Moving towards the 2015-2016 irrigation season, many systems are currently forecasting lower levels of allocation availability for the 2015-2016; therefore, the baseline for temporary water prices in the Southern-Connected MDB is likely to be substantially higher than at the start of the 2014-15 season. Irrigators are already preparing by activating carryover capacities and purchasing additional water to take into the new water season.

The Waterfind CEO Report can be found at http://www.waterfind.com.au/news-posts/ceo-report-q3/.