Iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas are all tipped to contribute heavily to Australia's commodity export earnings this financial year, forecast to rise to a record $214 billion.
The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics today released its export forecasts with earnings from the farming and mineral resources sector projected to increase in 2008-09.
The strong performances of the two sectors have prompted ABARE to increase its export earnings guidance by $1.4 billion from its projections made in June.
The value of minerals and energy exports are forecast to increase by 53 per cent on the previous year to around $180 billion.
ABARE said iron ore, coal, oil and LNG are forecast to account for almost 98 per cent of the growth in total energy and mineral export earnings.
Separately, earnings for energy commodities are tipped to increase by 98 per cent to $90 billion while metals and other minerals are forecast to rise by 25 per cent to $90 billion.
Crop export earnings are forecast to rise by 24 per cent to $16 billion however earnings from livestock and livestock products are tipped to decline by three per cent to $14 billion.
Earlier this month, ABARE announced export earnings rose 11 per cent to a record $116 billion for the 2008 financial year.
