"Australia and the Global Market for Bulk Commodities"
Provided by: Reserve Bank of Australia
Official Release: HTML PDF

From the Release: "The share of Australia’s export earnings derived from bulk commodities – coking coal, thermal coal and iron ore – has increased over recent years, consistent with the large price increases seen until mid 2008. This article discusses the broad structure of the global iron ore and coal markets as well as the key markets for Australia’s exports. While Australia is the world’s largest exporter of bulk commodities, Australia’s share of global production is much smaller, reflecting the fact that a large proportion of global production – especially Chinese production – is not traded internationally. From this perspective, developments on the supply side, as well as the demand side, within China have the potential to affect the global coal market and prices, particularly in the context of the current global economic slowdown."