General
No-one is ‘hoarding’ water in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, new study finds
There is no evidence of water hoarding in southern Murray-Darling Basin water markets, according to a new paper in the Australian Journal of Agriculture and Resources Economics.
Key points:
- Withholding water from the market can, in theory, affect the price
- The researchers say they could find no evidence that anyone was “hoarding” water
- Water market data is collected by the Bureau of Meteorology and individual registers in each Basin state.
During the recent drought, many irrigators along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers accused corporate investors in the water market of holding back water as prices rose, to sell or lease it to them at higher prices.
At the time, prices for temporary irrigation water were climbing to levels not seen since…
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