Australia Abare: 09-10 Copper Output To Rise 13% to 1 Million Tons
June 22 2009 - 8:48PM
Dow Jones News
Australia's copper output for the fiscal year that starts July 1
is set to rise 13% to 1 million metric tons, the Australian Bureau
of Agricultural and Resource Economics said Tuesday.
Output during the current fiscal year ending June 30 is forecast
to rise 4%, as higher output at BHP Billiton Ltd.'s (BHP) Olympic
Dam mine will offset mine closures late in 2008.
The precipitous fall in metal prices during the current year
will undermine copper export earnings, expected to fall 19% to
A$5.5 billion during 2008-09, despite the sharp depreciation of the
Australian dollar offsetting some of the declines in international
metal prices.
However, next fiscal year a rise in both export volumes and
prices is forecast to result in a 2% increase in copper export
earnings, to A$5.6 billion, Abare said.
Aluminum output is expected to have remained steady at around
1.96 million tons in 2008-09, but output is forecast to decline by
around 3% to 1.9 million tons in 2009-10, as a result of reduced
production at Alcoa Inc.'s (AA) Portland smelter in Victoria.
-By Elisabeth Behrmann, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-2-8272-4689 elisabeth.behrmann@dowjones.com