Abare: 09-10 Copper Exports Expected A$6.2 Billion, +8% On Year
September 21 2009 - 8:30PM
Dow Jones News
Australia's earnings from copper exports during the fiscal year
starting July 1 are expected to rise 8% to A$6.2 billion, the
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said
Tuesday.
That's a turnaround from a decline of 14% to A$5.8 billion in
export earnings during 2008-09, when plummeting world market prices
canceled out increased export volumes and a lower Australian
dollar, Abare said.
Production is going to reach nearly 1 million metric tons during
2009-10, up 9% on the year.
That's mainly attributable to the start-up of Newmont Mining
Corp.'s (NEM) Boddington gold mine, with significant copper
by-product, as well as OZ Minerals Ltd.'s (OZL.AU) Prominent Hill
copper-gold operation.
In other base metals, aluminum export earnings are expected to
fall 26% to A$3.5 billion during 2009-10, after already recording a
drop of 5% last year to A$4.7 billion.
Export earnings from alumina, a raw material in aluminum metal
production, will drop 19% to A$4.9 billion as a result of lower
prices, Abare said.
In nickel, Abare forecasts export volumes during 2009-10 to drop
20% to 152,000 tons. But despite this large decline, export values
are forecast to rise 9% to A$2.9 billion underpinned by higher
world prices.
-By Elisabeth Behrmann, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-2-8272-4689 elisabeth.behrmann@dowjones.com