THE Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics has forecast Australia’s commodity exports to rise by 19 per cent in 2005-06 to around $117 billion. The outlook is being driven by minerals and energy exports, ABARE said.The total value of Australia’s minerals and energy exports is forecast to reach $87.2 billion in 2005-06, with the value of exports in the key sectors of coal, oil and LNG to perform strongly.However, the outlook for rural exports is less rosy. Overall, the value of exports of farm commodities is forecast to fall by almost 2 per cent to $27.2 billion in 2005-06.