Iron ore: Australian exports down

Australia has seen a decline in exports of goods and services for September due to low iron ore prices, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Australia has seen a decline in exports of goods and services for September due to low iron ore prices, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

From August to September, exports fell by $3.08 billion (6%) to just under $45 billion.

‘Metal ores and minerals’ and ‘Metals (excluding non-monetary gold)’ were the biggest month-on-month declines, down 16% and 23% in value respectively.

September saw iron ore prices fall below $100 a tonne for the first time since November 2020, and caused the temporary closure of several Australian iron ore operations due to financially unviable operations.

The effect of this was clear in the decline in the value of exports, while total trade quantities actually increased from August to September for both iron ore lumps (+2%) and fines (+7%).

Despite the negative readings, Resources and Water Minister Keith Pitt was very positive about Australia’s resources and energy sector.

Total resource and energy exports were $95.9 billion for the three months to September 2021, which is 50 per cent higher than the same period last year and 11 per cent higher than the previous three months to June 2021.

Resource exports totalled $332.6 billion for the year to September, an impressive 23 per cent higher than the previous 12 months.