The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economicssaid Australian earnings from exports of mineral and energy products rose 1.3% to $30.85bn in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the third quarter, but were still down 35% from $47.15bn a year earlier.
ABARE highlighted strong demand for iron ore and coal with export volumes of these products rising to recordlevels in the quarter. The record volumes of bulk commodity exports were attributed to demand from steel mills and power stations in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China.
Despite earnings from exports of mineral and energy products falling sharply from the 2008 fourth quarter, resources exports still accounted for greater than half of total exports of goods and services in the fourth quarter.
The slight increase in fourth quarter export earnings came despite a 9% rise in the value of the Australian dollar.
ABARE's index ofexport prices of Australian energy and mineral resources fell 4.7% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter and was down 42% from a year earlier. Higher world prices for metals and other minerals such as aluminium, copper,gold and zinc largely offset the effect of the higher Australian dollar in the fourth quarter.