australian dollar

Holden will cease manufacturing in Australia in 2017.

In spite of our volatile dollar, this year’s Endeavour Awards Manufacturer of the Year and major exporter, ANCA, remains positive. Alan Johnson reports.

Alan Johnson questioned manufacturing’s new industry minister, Ian MacFarlane, on the major issues facing industry going into 2014.

Furniture brand One/Third was established last year and has aimed to put design at the front of what it does.

The Australian dollar was up this morning to 93.79 US cents at 7 am, following a drop of 0.1 per cent in industrial output in the US.

The Australian dollar has weakened following comments by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s governor Glenn Stevens that it was overvalued and likely to fall with commodity prices.

Peter Kelly, the managing director of SPC Ardmona, has said that the federal and Victorian governments should be supporting local food processors and farmers by encouraging public institutions to source locally-made food.

The AMWU has claimed that the federal and Victorian governments now have “prime responsibility” to safeguard SPC Ardmona jobs after the Productivity Commission ruled out a temporary tariff to counter cheap imports.

Brent Balinski speaks to three very different Australian manufacturers about how, despite the strong dollar, they’ve remained globally competitive.

BlueScope Steel has announced this morning that it has shrunk its annual loss from $1.04 billion to $84.1 million, with a return to profit expected this financial year.

Gladstone’s Austicks will cease production and import its product from France, shedding 50 jobs.

The drop in the Australian dollar and the fact that it seems to have found a new level of around 90 US cents has been welcome news for manufacturers.

“Under this [Labor] government we’ve seen one manufacturing job lost every 19 minutes.” – Opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella, Q&A, 1 July.

South Australia’s manufacturing minister Tom Kenyon has said he has genuine concerns for GM Holden’s future in Australia, as the car maker pushes for further funding to secure an upgrade of its Elizabeth plant.

According to the global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from JP Morgan and Markit Economics, global manufacturing has grown for the past six months.

The recent drop in the Australian dollar has brought some relief to trade-exposed regional manufacturers.

Australia’s only soda ash manufacturer, Penrice Soda, ceased production at the end of June, and has an outstanding carbon tax bill of $1.9 million.

Joe Hinrichs, executive vice president and president of The Americas at Ford, has given an explanation of why the company decided to end its Australian operations, citing isolation and high costs.

General Motors Holden’s managing director Mike Devereux has highlighted the unique set of difficulties facing Australian car-makers and said the company is “laser-focussed” on making savings as it attempts to remain viable.

The future of the shrinking automotive manufacturing sector in Australia is hard to predict and redundant workers may find it difficult to gain employment elsewhere, according to Japanese company Hirotec.