Australia ups export volume forecasts for 2011-12

13th Dec 2011 13:36

London-listed mining stocks were on their way up on Tuesday, helped by the news that Australia has raised its forecast for commodity export volumes.According to the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics' (BREE's) Resource and Energy Quarterly, Australia's export volumes for most minerals and energy commodities are expected to increase in 2011-12, including metallurgical and thermal coal, iron ore, gold and copper. During the period, increases in export volumes are forecast for: thermal coal (up 14% to 163m tonnes); iron ore (up 13% to 460m tonnes); gold (up 12% to 336 tonnes); copper (up 10% to 935,000 tonnes) and metallurgical coal (up 7% to 150m tonnes). "The increase in iron ore and thermal coal export volumes reflects recent expansions to mine and infrastructure capacity, while metallurgical coal exports are forecast to be higher as production conditions improve in Queensland," according to BREE's executive director and chief economist Quentin Grafton.As such, BREE predicts that the nation's resources and energy export earnings will rise 15% to a record $206bn in 2011-12, helped by higher earnings from iron ore, coal, oil, gas and gold."Despite the uncertainty surrounding the outlook for some European economies, Australia's export volumes for most commodities have remained strong in the second half of 2011, while prices for many commodities have remained at historically high levels," Grafton said.Vedanta Resources, a miner with significant assets in iron ore and copper was among the high risers on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday afternoon. Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta were also making gains.BC