Mining delivers record $455 billion in export revenue in FY23

Mining contributed a record $455 billion in export revenue for Australia in the 2022-23 financial year, highlighting, once again the importance of the industry to the nation’s economy, government revenues and regional jobs.

Released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the figure represents two-thirds (66 per cent) of all export revenue for the nation and is a 10.5 per cent increase on 2021-22, which was the previous record year.

The industry’s significant contribution to the nation’s export earnings cannot be taken for granted.

The country can’t afford to miss the opportunity to attract a share of the US$180 billion per year in global mining investment over the next two decades needed to meet the world’s colossal energy transition.

The federal government’s Same Job, Same Pay proposed legislation would severely impact the Australian mining industry’s global competitiveness to attract this investment.

This would be a major blow to our nation’s economy and future export revenue.

Instead of making the industry more competitive and attractive for investment, the federal government’s proposed legislation would be a handbrake on mining wages, investment and jobs growth.

Australia risks dealing itself out of trillion-dollar critical minerals markets unless it gets serious about addressing rising costs, declining productivity and increased policy risks.

The ABS figures also showed that coal (thermal and metallurgical) export revenue totalled $128 billion, iron ore $125 billion, gold $27.4 billion, aluminium $14.9 billion and copper $12.5 billion.

The strongest growth in exports was made in technology metals such as nickel (51 per cent), zinc (30 per cent), copper (17 per cent) with continued growth in coal exports (11 per cent) and a strong result for gold (5 per cent).

Over the decade, the total contribution of minerals, metals and energy commodities to export revenue totalled $2.7 trillion.