ABARE found export volumes were higher for most commodities including iron ore, thermal and metallurgical coal, zinc, copper and aluminium.

Export earnings for black coal jumped 11% from the same time last year, a result of higher contract prices for both thermal and metallurgical coal.

The production of raw and sale coal steadied during the year, with higher production in New South Wales offsetting Queensland’s decline in production due to adverse weather earlier this year.

Exports volumes for metallurgical coal were up by 4% from the previous year to 137 million tonnes and thermal coal was up by 3% to 115Mt.

The year saw significant increases in export earnings, with thermal coal up $1.6 billion (23%) to $8.3 billion and metallurgical coal up $755 million (5%) to $15.8 billion.