We mine 850m tons of Iron ore a year; enough to product 450Mil tons of steel which feeds almost quarter of global steel production and all we can do to produce 3mil T/P/A (Bluescope)
If we build 2 mega smelters/steel mills producing 20 mil TPA each, that would only account for 2% of global production but it would add $160 million to our trade surplus & GDP (+8%) and free us from China economic independance.
We can overcome our chief weaknesses (labour costs & excessive red tape) by operating in SEZs (import llabour, no tax, minimal red tape, no trade unions) and by specialising in limited products exclusively for export with the latest optimally automated plant, we can compete favourably with the Chinese & indians while offering our customers premium products without political complications.
Instead we are withering on the vine expecting other global markets to take up our export commodities blocked by China at Chinese pricing. IMO, that wont happen because Chinese demand for beef, wine, fish, barley , lumber & thermo coal has put prices up so, IMO, these prices will retrace once Chinese demand dries up.That is evident already with massive wine discounts at the bottle shop.# Beer (barley), IMO, is not likely to go down in price because all our major brewers are foreign owned and they are not likely to pass on the benefit to consumers.
# bottom shelf wines which were $10/bottle are now selling for $5 -$7. I know that the hip pocket cowboys will applaud this but it is a looming tragedy for the country, IMO.
