A$ was at US$0.813 in February and touched $0.735 in June. That...

A$ was at US$0.813 in February and touched $0.735 in June. That is approaching a drop of 10% in 5 months, or an average of drop of 2% per month.

The peak of US$1.10 was reached in 2011 when the local elites and ruling class were in love with Obama economic theory, QE and windmills. In round numbers the A$ has lost one third of its value in that time-frame.

On a technical basis the currency looks like it wants to head lower. Over the next 12-18 months could settle into the mid US$0.60's.
About 1/3 of Aussie GDP is tied to real estate mania centered on Sydney and Melbourne and preserving the BIG Four banks. So the Reserve Bank cannot raise rates without wiping out most of real estate speculators and people employed to build strata title units to absorb all of the money that is fleeing China.

U really need to study up on Trump economic policy to see where all of this is headed. Trump is raising rates, sucking up global hot money and imposing restrictions on growth in the Chinese economy, much of it garnered by outright theft from the US economy (and IP) which constitutes about 25% of global trade. This process will be ongoing over the next few years.

So Chinese steel will take a hit, and the knock on effect will be a reduction in purchase of low grade iron dirt from WA.