The HC commentary has subsided today.Australian Nickel Exports...

The HC commentary has subsided today.

Australian Nickel Exports Slump; Coal, Iron Ore Shipments Gain

By Jesse Riseborough

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel shipments from Australia, the world’s fourth-biggest exporter, slumped 37 percent in the September quarter as demand and prices plunged.

Exports fell to 22,000 metric tons in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, the Canberra-based Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said today in a report on its Web site. Shipments dropped 51 percent from the June quarter.

The price of nickel, used to make stainless steel, has tumbled 57 percent this half as a widening global recession curbs demand for raw materials. OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of the metal, halted operations at its Cawse mine in Australia in October, the same month that Rio Tinto Group Chief Economist Vivek Tulpule said Australian producers may cut output.

The value of nickel exports plummeted 63 percent to A$355 million in the quarter, the bureau said. That compares with a total sales value of A$5.3 billion in the last fiscal year. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Minara Resources Ltd. are Australia’s two biggest producers.

September quarter nickel output may also have been affected by the shutdown in June of BHP’s Kwinana refinery and its Kalgoorlie smelter. Both resumed output in September.

Merrill Lynch last week cut its 2009 price forecast for the metal by 32 percent, predicting the market may be in surplus until 2015.

Coal, Iron Ore

Shipments of coal and iron from Australia, the biggest exporter of both commodities, increased amid record prices. Exports of iron ore and pellets climbed 26 percent while metallurgical coal shipments rose 5 percent and thermal coal 18 percent, it said.

Total export earnings from all minerals from Australia rose 63 percent to A$42.6 billion in the period, the bureau said. The index of export prices for Australian energy and minerals rose 20 percent in the quarter, the report said.

“The record earnings reflect increased export volumes for most commodities and significantly higher prices for bulk commodities,” Phillip Glyde, the bureau’s executive director, said in a statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aXavaMTOX824&refer=australia