ABS trade figures are out today and there’s no doubt about it, August was a cracking month, posting a big jump to record export revenues above $28 billion for the first time and delivering a surplus of $3.1 billion, the second highest ever. The good news came from one primary source, iron ore:
As you can see from the top chart, the last time we posted record exports, was at the 2008 cliff’s edge. There has already been some softeing in the ore price, and more in the swaps market (I’ll try to get a chart of that later). And backing that up, the LME steel price has also taken a beating since August, clearly busting its uptrend:
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Nonetheless, combined with this morning’s building approvals, it’s been a good day for the economy.
