Welcome The Australian Horticultural Exporters Association is an independant and autonomous association of Australian horticultural exporter organisations which represents the interests of its members to Government and Industry in the pursuit of improving the profitability and sustainability of the fresh horticultural  export industry.    Don't get into DEEP WATER! when you export!  It costs as little as $10.00* a week to be kept informed about export market conditions! If you are an exporter,grower, packer or involved in Australian horticultural exports, then there's plenty of good reasons to join the Peak industry body that represents Australian Horticultural Exporters and keeps them informed. Become a member Today! –  It costs as little as $10.00 a week to join the A.H.E.A.! * new member offer ( plus GST ) Become a Subscriber or Member . Click on the link for details                     Sponsorship and Advertising opportunities available. Your organization could regularly reach our readers who are involved with , or interested in fruit and vegetable exporting. Click on the heading for more details or contact us at ahea@ahea.com.au

Making News...............................   Aussie $ moving up. Current indicative  buy rates for  Friday 12th March   2010 at 9.00am Data sources Custom House & Major Banks Foreign Exchange Rates. ( TT * Bank  Notes)             See more... Aussie dollar rates over the last few days on Industry news page.  The Aussie dollar saw volatile trading conditions ease through the evening's off shore trade. This saw consolidation of any gains made through the week. Concerns of China tightening more to calm its economy slowed down the Aussie's movement. China is the biggest buyer of Australia's commodity exports and is currently providing the backbone to the AUD. The U.S. Dollar made little movement against a basket of major currencies, after mixed data on U.S. trade and jobless claims failed to give investors direction. Domestic data has been generally upbeat and positive to support the markets expectation of another rate rise in April and May.   $A vs Rate Change $A vs Rate Change USD  0.9140 +0% GBP  0.6060 -0.5% EURO  0.6675 -0%   JPY 82.56 +0% NZD  1.3042 +0.4%   HKD  7.0773 +0% SGD  1.2579 -0%   IDR 8402 +0.2% CNY  6.2427  +0%   MYR*  3.0348 -0.2% TWD* 29.0255 +0.1%   THB 29.8810 -0.1% Note: USD= US dollar GBP= UK pound EURO= EU currency JPY= Japan Yen NZD= NZ dollar HKD= HK dollar SGD= Singapore dollar IDR= Indonesia rupiah CNY= China renminbi MYR= Malaysia ringgit TWD= Taiwan dollar THB= Thai Baht. All care is taken in reproducing this information, but AHEA does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or correctness of the data, which should be used as a guide only.

Hail pelts fruit in the Goulburn Valley. Freak storms have caused damage in Gippsland and the Goulburn Valley regions of Victoria, with fruit growers in particular suffering from the impact. Trees in the affected areas have been uprooted, with some fruit also impacted by large hailstones that fell during the storms. "The hail that we have seen has physically taken chunks out of the fruit," said Andrew Plunkett, chairman of Fruit Growers Victoria. "There are reports of tennis ball-sized hail hitting tennis ball-sized apples. Meanwhile, up to 30mm of rain fell in 30 minutes between Shepparton and Tocumwal on the Murray River. ABC news 8.3.2010 Air freight pain for exporters. Fruit and vegetable exporters are upset international airlines are giving preference to seafood when allocating freight space for exports. Several exporters complained to The Weekly Times that they were unable to fly shipments of stonefruit to Hong Kong ahead of the Chinese New Year, because airlines had cancelled flights, double booked or shunted their orders aside in favour of seafood. David Minnis, a Melbourne exporter,  said trying to send fruit from Melbourne "had been a nightmare". .... more in Industry News

Further  in  Industry  News....  Aust: Horticulture Australia Council collapses Aust:  Global warming will reshape horticulture. Chile assesses quake damage to horticulture sector Euro may not survive  'deficit' crisis Peru:  bumper  mango forecast and more........... in Market updates...... Aust: NATA approved labs that may be able to help with MRL testing and more ............  in Shipping ......      US $$ historical figures  - in shipping schedules Latest   surcharges  December   2009   -  in Freight Rates  Can't access all the news stories?........ Become a subscriber today!               ************************************************************

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