Australia's exports of iron ore and coal increased to record levels in the last quarter of 2009 as a result of strong demand from Asia including Japan, South Korea and China. Iron ore export volumes for the quarter were more than 98 million metric tons and metallurgical coal exports exceeded 39 million metric tons, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE).
"The record volumes of bulk commodity exports in the fourth quarter were underpinned by demand from steel mills and power stations in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China," said Paul Morris, ABARE deputy executive director, on releasing the report.
In the period in question, Australian iron ore exports to China increased by 1.02 percent quarter on quarter and climbed by 70.94 percent compared to Q4 2009, reaching 67.86 million metric tons, while 69.52 percent of the total exports went to China. The second major iron ore export destination of Australian iron ore was Japan, which accounted for 18.78 percent of total iron exports; iron ore exports to this country decreased by 2.85 percent quarter on quarter to 18.33 million metric tons, down 0.76 percent compared to the year-ago period. South Korea's iron ore imports from Australia in the fourth quarter of the year totaled 8.62 million metric tons, marking a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.69 percent and a rise of 3.25 percent compared to Q4 2008.
Meanwhile, in the last quarter of 2009, Australia's primary metallurgical coal export destination was Japan. Metallurgical coal exports to this country amounted to 12.32 million metric tons, increasing by 8.54 percent quarter on quarter but down 0.47 percent year on year; meanwhile, exports to India totaled 8.13 million metric tons, up 12.56 percent quarter on quarter and up 59.34 percent year on year. China's metallurgical coal imports from Australia decreased by 31.53 percent compared to Q3 2009, totaling 3.93 million metric tons, compared to 70,000 metric tons in Q4 2008. The European Union imported 3.71 million metric tons of metallurgical coal from the country, up 22.44 percent quarter on quarter but down 24.07 percent year on year.