Australia's mineral exports to China rises nearly A$50 billion in 2 decades: BREE

Metal Recycling News  |  2012-06-07 08:46:36   |   By

Australia's mineral resource exports value to China increased to A$49.9 billion in 2010-11 from A$200 million 20 years before (rose by nearly A$50-billion in 2010/11), as per report published by Australia's Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

PERTH (Scrap Monster): Australia's mineral resource exports value to China increased to A$49.9 billion in 2010-11 from A$200 million 20 years before (rose by nearly A$50-billion in 2010/11), as per report published by Australia's Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

According to the data, Australia exported 69% of its total iron ore production to China in 2010-11, compared to six percent in 1989-90.

Over the period from 1989-90 to 2010-11, China's share of Australian metallurgical coal exports increased from one percent to around 11 percent, while its share of Australian thermal coal exports increased from 0.1 percent to around 12 percent in the same period.

As per BREE chief economist and executive director Professor Quentin Grafton, “The real value of Australia’s exports of mineral resources to China increased more than two hundredfold from 1989/90 to 2010/11. In volume terms, and over the same period, the proportion of total Australian exports that are exported to China has increased more than tenfold for iron-ore and metallurgical coal and more than a hundredfold for thermal coal.”

According to BREE report, the prospect for China’s commodity demand over the medium term would depend on the pace and composition of its economic growth and structural adjustment. However, it noted that the Chinese government had committed to rebalancing demand away from investment and exports, and towards consumption.

China was expected to grow rapidly in the years to come, although at a lower rate than the average established over the past decade. The nature of its future growth would also likely change, with lower growth in terms of its resource intensity, BREE concluded.