Wayne Calder, executive director of the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics in Canberra, in an interview with The Australian Financial Review:
- Says some of the recent negative rhetoric had “been a little over-blown”
- “There’s still a long-term sustained story for the resources and energy industry
- “We’ve moved decisively from the investment to the production phase and people have characterised this as the end of the mining boom – it’s not.”
- Iron ore hit a five-year low of $US81.90 a tonne last week, taking its fall this year to almost 40 percent
- Analysts predicted this week that Australian producers would be hurt by Chinese restrictions on the burning of coal with an ash content of more than 40 per cent or sulphur content of more than 3 per cent. However, Mr Calder said the bureau’s view was that the impact on thermal coal shipments would be relatively minor. “It’s important to note that our producers can blend and wash the coal to meet the restrictions on ash and sulphur content,” he said.
- Of the 194 million tonnes of the material exported by Australian producers, only about 47 million tonnes went to China, he said. “Our assessment is around 20 million tonnes are affected [by the ban],” he said. “Australian coal is generally low ash… and one of the advantages… is it’s well positioned to meet the needs of China and reduce pollution in the atmosphere. “That would tend to favour Australian coal… versus supply from Indonesia and domestic [Chinese] coal.”
More at the Australian Financial Review (gated): Iron ore and China bears wrong, says BREE
