According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia's wine exports climbed by 10 per cent to $2.82 billion wine in calendar 2018, with red wine varieties growing the fastest to now make up 76 per cent of the total.
The strong growth of the Penfolds and Wolf Blass brands owned by $11 billion ASX-listed Treasury Wine Estates into China helped push total exports into that country ahead by 18 per cent for the year to $1.14 billion, even though the pace of growth has been slowing in the past few months.
Australia has 2,543 wine companies exporting to various destinations, with growth experienced in seven of the top 10 export markets, figures released by industry body Wine Australia revealed. Red wine exports jumped by 12 per cent to $2.14 billion, while white wine was up by 12 per cent to $607 million.

https://www.afr.com/business/agriculture/australian-wine-exports-up-10pc-to-282b-20190121-h1ab6m

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/108257698
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan and Australia will start as early as April a joint project to harvest high-end fruit all year round, taking advantage of two countries' seasonal differences.
The two countries will contribute farmland, personnel and technology for the project, which is also aimed at encouraging businesses to participate in the unique farming structure.
The two governments mean to develop new markets for luxury produce, which will be targeted at wealthy consumers in China and Southeast Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison agreed on a plan to proceed with building a cooperative structure at a summit in November 2018. The two leaders "recognized the potential for the two countries to boost agricultural exports into international markets through cooperation on bilateral counter-seasonal production," according to a joint statement released after the meeting.
The deal will enable Japanese farmers, who usually grow fruit in summer and fall, to also grow them in Australia when Japan is in winter, allowing them to harvest in all seasons. As the two countries have little time difference, farmers in one can monitor farms in the other in real time using video and provide instructions to staff on site.
The project will start in the northeastern Australian town of Ayr, where melons will be grown on a farm to be set up using land and greenhouses provided by the Australian side.
Japan will dispatch private-sector farmers from rural areas, including Fukuoka Prefecture, to the farm to provide necessary technological assistance and train local staff on farming the fruit.
The farmers will try Japanese farming techniques on an Australian melon variety and see if they can achieve the required quality and sugar content.
The project will seek to set up farms in other areas of the northeastern state of Queensland, where Ayr is located. They will also grow Japanese persimmons and strawberries.
By leading the project, the two countries aim to lay the groundwork for the year-round production scheme to encourage private-sector businesses to enter the unique farming scheme.
The first crop of fruit will be sent for quality inspections in Singapore and Thailand to see if they are viable for sale.
The two countries' interests could collide in rice, beef and dairy production, possibly spurring complaints from farmers on both sides. Therefore, they decided to cooperate in luxury fruit because there should be less overlap.
The cooperation could also attract new demand, including for the gift market. In 2017, Japan exported nearly 40,000 tons of fruit overseas, worth about 20 billion yen (US$ 184 million). The total export volume and value have jumped 160% and 250%, respectively, over the past five years.
As the economies grow, high-income groups are increasing in China and ASEAN countries. With the luxury fruit market expanding, Ginza Sembikiya and other fruit distributors can expect more profit by selling luxury fruit year-round.
Japan and Australia are cooperating in more than luxury fruit. The two countries are jointly conducting a large shrimp farming project in the Northern Territory. In March 2017, Japan signed a memorandum with the government of Queensland to develop a new variety of soybeans starting in April 2018.
The northern part of the country is less populated and developed. The Australian government hopes Japan's technical cooperation will boost development in the area, which includes a third of the country's land.

Ref: https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-and-Australia-to-try-out-year-round-fruit-production
 
If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7102067 
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia's biggest trucking group, Toll Holdings, faces a challenging year as it tries to match or exceed 2018's profits, which were boosted by property and equipment sales, in a tough market.
Toll reported earnings before interest and tax of $83 million for the year to March 2018, compared with a $1.3 billion loss a year earlier. It returned a net profit of $11 million for the first time in three years after taking a $1.4 billion net loss a year earlier.

Ref: https://www.afr.com/business/toll-has-a-way-to-go-to-deliver-sustainable-profits-as-turnaround-continues-20190110-h19wv5

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4409162 
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, eateries and consumers alike in Japan are turning to rice from Australia as a thrifty option for their main food staple, shunning domestically grown varieties that have been more expensive for four years running.
Fast-food restaurants in particular are embracing the import as a way to cut costs to cope with rising wages.
"Australian rice goes well with our sauce, so we started using it," said an executive at Ten Corp., a Royal Holdings group member that runs a tempura rice-bowl chain. Its outlets have been mixing imports from Down Under into Japanese rice, up to 50-50 at some locations, for about a year.
Japanese consumers are notoriously picky about their rice, generally preferring to use long-grain varieties from many other parts of Asia mixed into a dish. But the majority of Australian rices are short grains, just like Japan's celebrated Koshihikari variety, and many locals find it suitable for eating plain.
Seiyo Food-Compass Group, a Tokyo-based operator of about 1,900 company cafeterias, restaurants and other locations, began using some Aussie rice last year. To deal with the surging prices for Japanese rice, Ootoya Holdings, which runs a namesake home-food restaurant chain, began serving smaller portions for extra rice orders last autumn, while mixing Aussie varieties in its healthier rice option that includes brown rice, barley and corn. Noodle chain Mitsuwa also uses Australian imports for its rice offerings.
Grocery stores are part of the trend as well. Last year, Seiyu supermarkets began selling an Australian variety called Uraraka that was imported by trading house Sumitomo Corp. A Tokyo market for commercial buyers offers the Opus from Down Under for 1,350 yen ($12.45) per 5 kg bag -- 20% cheaper than Masshigura, grown in Aomori Prefecture.
Rice cultivation in Australia began when a Japanese farmer brought seeds in the early 1900s. SunRice, which has incorporated Japanese milling technology, is the sole marketer of exports.
Japan opened its rice market after the 1993 Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, and has been importing 770,000 tons of the grain a year -- although only about 100,000 tons are used as table rice. Consumers gradually warmed to more-affordable foreign varieties, particularly when domestic counterparts became pricier.
Japanese rice prices fell in fiscal 2014 due to a rich harvest, and imports from Down Under dropped. But prices on domestic varieties have soared 40% since, and Aussie rice coming to Japan skyrocketed 55 times to upward of 30,000 tons a year. Australia became second only to the U.S. for imports of table rice into Japan, accounting for 30% of this segment, up from 10% previously. The country is maintaining the 30% share for auctions this fiscal year.
Under the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership that took effect at the end of 2018, Japan has set a quota just for Australian rice, which will increase to 8,400 tons a year after 12 years. This means imports of the food for direct consumption will likely jump 10%.
To counter the rising tide of imports, Japan's agriculture ministry will boost its reserve of domestic rice. Government purchases of the grain grown in different parts of the country will climb by 5% to around 210,000 tons a year, accommodating a request from the farm co-op. This will tighten supply of domestic varieties, helping to keep prices intact, the government's thinking goes.
But this plan has met with criticism. "Already there's not enough affordable rice grown in Japan, and taking more rice out of the market means they are telling us not to use rice," said an official at a producer of ready-to-eat food products.
Meanwhile, other rice-growing countries are eyeing Japan's budget-conscious consumers and businesses. After pulling out of the TPP, which would have given a 70,000-ton quota, the U.S. is now pinning its hopes on new bilateral trade talks with Tokyo.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Commodities/Australian-rice-finds-favor-in-Japan-as-cheaper-option
 
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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4375434
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According to The Australian Financial Review,  Amazon's assault on the $100 billion food and grocery market could reignite the battle between multinational food and grocery suppliers and Woolworths, which believes brand owners may be favouring the e-commerce giant with cheaper prices on brands such as Colgate, Huggies, Omo and Finish.
After stepping up pressure on Woolworths and Coles by adding food and beverages to its non-food pantry range last month, Amazon Australia is now undercutting the dominant supermarket chains by as much as 50 per cent on household staples and quickly capturing a foothold in the market.
Woolworths sources said Amazon.com.au was selling food and groceries at lower prices than Australia's largest supermarket chain on a number of products and in some cases at prices below Woolworths' purchase price.

https://www.afr.com/business/retail/amazon-undercuts-woolworths-and-coles-on-food-and-grocery-prices-20181126-h18ckr

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6374749
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Ikea Australia will open the first of about eight pop-up stores in the next few months as the Scandinavian furniture and homewares company shifts its strategy  from big "blue boxes" to smaller format stores and e-commerce in response to changing shopping habits.
Ikea announced on Wednesday it would cut 7500 jobs worldwide – mainly in corporate and back-office roles – and create thousands of new roles by opening 30 new smaller stores in urban centres and expanding its fledgling online retailing operations.
The shake-up at the Swedish company shows that even Ikea – known for its massive destination stores and affordable flat-pack furniture – is not immune to the online competition that has decimated other brick-and-mortar retailers.

https://www.afr.com/business/retail/ikea-australia-to-open-popups-smaller-stores-as-online-sales-exceed-10pc-20181122-h188au

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/ikea 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, technology consulting giant Infosys will invests "tens of millions" in three new innovation hubs, promising 1200 new jobs by 2020, but the states will fight to host them.
The hubs will be "co-creation" centres for government, business and universities to work with Infosys on digital transformation, said Andrew Groth, boss of the India-founded multinational's 4500 staff across Australia and New Zealand.
About 40 per cent of the new hires will be Australian university graduates, from fields including computer science and design.
"The Australian Computer Society released a report in June which found Australia would need 200,000 technology workers over the next five years, but that we're still less than 5000 local graduates from degrees in information and communication technology degrees each year," Mr Groth said.

https://www.afr.com/technology/infosys-to-create-1200-local-jobs-in-three-new-innovation-hubs-20181120-h185ab

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1200 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, farmers battling falling agribusiness returns from the severe drought are turning to the renewable energy market as a way to earn additional income and future-proof their enterprises against climate change.
"More and more farmers are coming to the realisation that they need a survival strategy that takes into account not just normal seasonal weather patterns or even `normal' droughts, but the extraordinary weather that climate change is now delivering," said Angus Shaw, a rural manager at valuers Herron Todd White.
"The clean energy option offers farmers both a regular, dependable, income and a means of reducing the often debilitating mental and physical stresses that can accompany the no-income years."
Depending on the number of wind towers or solar panels, a renewable energy income contract can net an individual farmer as much as $100,000 per year or more with long-term leases up to 30 years.

https://www.afr.com/real-estate/commercial/droughtstricken-farmers-earning-extra-income-from-renewable-energy-contracts-20181116-h17z92

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3203961 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, within five years, Melburnians or Sydneysiders could look out of their office windows and see flying ride-sharing vehicles transporting workers between the central business district and regional centres or airports,  because Uber has entered discussions with local and federal governments.
The company first indicated Melbourne and Sydney as possible trial locations for its UberAIR service last year and last week Uber's global head of aviation, Eric Allison, was in the country meeting with politicians, policymakers and Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (CASA) representatives.

https://www.afr.com/technology/flying-uberair-trials-set-to-for-lift-off-in-australia-with-government-support-20181106-h17lna

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/uber 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, an Australian start-up that seeks to keep elderly people out of hospital and in their homes living independently for longer by monitoring them remotely has raised $5 million from one of South Australia's largest aged care service providers.
Billy uses a series of discrete sensors placed around the home to build a picture of daily activities for family of the elderly residents in their own home or in an assisted-living environment. Activity information can be shared with the family via a smartphone app and can be alerted if there is a change in pattern.
It gives data in real time and looks for changes in behavioural patterns, such as skipping medication or going to the toilet more than normal patterns, which could indicate another health problem.
That technology piqued the interest of Enabling Confidence at Home (ECH), one of the largest integrated providers of retirement village accommodation in SA. The non-profits chief executive David Panter said it also had the potential to be used globally.

https://www.afr.com/business/health/billy-a-health-tech-startup-keeping-the-elderly-out-of-aged-care-raises-5m-20181102-h17fua

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3948856
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