Resource News
Minerals exports decline on lower prices and demand
By resourceINTEL · September 10, 2009 · 6:12 am · Leave a Comment
AUSTRALIA’S minerals exports continued to decline in the June quarter as the impact of the global financial crisis forced down prices and subdued orders.
A report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics released today shows total mineral exports in the June quarter fell to $30.5 billion compared with $38.8 billion in the March quarter.
The fall came as bleak global conditions forced commodities prices _ particularly coal and iron ore _ down from their record levels set last year before the impact of the financial crisis took hold.
But the strong prices of 2008 and early 2009 produced a record for mineral resource exports of $159.7 for the full financial year to the end of June this year.
ABARE’s Deputy Executive Director Dr Terry Sheales said the record earnings reflected a 16 per cent depreciation of the Australian dollar and “higher contract prices for bulk commodities in the first nine months of the financial year.”
In the June quarter, the index of export prices declined by 23 per cent compared with the March quarter as prices for energy minerals decreased by 33 per cent and prices for metals and other minerals decreased by 19 per cent…read more at The Australian
