Australian agribusinesses fall amid Trump tariffs

The S&P/ASX Agribusiness Index has fallen by close to five per cent in the past week, with Australia’s biggest agribusinesses hit hard by President Trump’s tariff announcements.

The S&P/ASX Agribusiness Index has fallen by close to five per cent in the past week, with some of Australia’s biggest agribusinesses hit hard by the waves of President Trump’s tariff announcements.

As of 11am Tuesday, Elders Limited’s share price had fallen by 13.95 per cent in the past five days, while Treasury Wine Estates had fallen close to 10 per cent, after almost $100bn was wiped off the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday.

The ASX is rebounding on Tuesday morning, and while TWE has fallen, in a statement to the ASX TWE said it did not anticipate the tariffs to have a material impact on its business, with its luxury Treasury Americas division well placed, having approximately 85 per cent of its gross profit (minus advertising and promotion expenditure) in the first half of 2025 coming from US produced wine.

Treasury Wine Estates CEO Tim Ford. Picture: Supplied

The nation’s biggest beef business, Australian Agricultural Company, has remained steady, recovering to be down just -2.77 per cent in the same time period, after a three per cent drop on last Thursday when the tariffs were announced.

Its share price is currently sitting at $1.40, but has dropped from a yearly high of $1.57 on March 13, when talks of potential US tariffs on Australian beef began circulating.

AACo CEO & Managing Director David Harris speaking at the Global Food Forum in Brisbane. Photo: Glenn Hunt

AACo received $57.4m in revenue from the United States in the year up to 31 March 2024, its second biggest market behind South Korea ($82.9m).

Animal nutrition company Ridley Corporation has fallen by 8.68 per cent, while Bubs Australia (-12.0 per cent), Nufarm (-8.71 per cent) and Graincorp (-4.83 per cent) also saw a drop in confidence.

On the flipside, of the dominant companies that make up the index, marginal gains have been seen by Inghams Group Limited (up 1.11 per cent) and almond grower Select Harvests Ltd (up 0.49 per cent).