According to a report of the China Resources Quarterly released earlier this month, in the second quarter of this year Australia’s exports of iron ore to China increased by six percent year on year to 155 million mt. In the same period, despite the increase in export volumes, iron ore export earnings declined by 30 percent year on year to $A9.4 million ($6.7 million), following a 43 percent decrease in the price of iron ore.
According to the report, the fall in most commodity prices began in 2014 and in the April-June period of this year most commodity prices continued to decline driven largely by an ongoing increase in supply, while China’s demand for most imported raw materials has been reasonable in volume and Australia’s overall export earnings from trade with China has declined due to sharp falls in the price of most metals and energy products.
Meanwhile, in the second quarter of the current year, China’s steel production recorded a decrease of one percent to 208 million mt in line with the decrease of four percent in iron ore imports to 226 million mt, both year on year, while Australia’s share of these imports continued to decrease from 59 percent recorded in the second quarter of the previous year to 65 percent in the same period of this year.