ABARE’s commodity forecasts highlight the need for a fundamental re-think of the Federal Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme and workplace relations laws, Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Mitchell Hooke said.
Yesterday ABARE released a report on the economic issues and implications of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to the mining and energy union.
According to the report, the value of Australia’s mineral exports will fall by as much as $35 billion in 2009-10.
Coking coal exports are forecast to fall 42%, thermal coal 28% and iron ore 20%.
“This dramatic price slump will be compounded in 2010-11 when Australia’s coal, gold and iron ore producers face emissions trading permit costs of billions of dollars,” Hooke said.
“In the first five years of the proposed ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme), Australia’s coal exporters alone face $5 billion in new carbon costs.”
The report also found that countries not implementing an ETS were gearing up their production of key commodities.
“”The outlook is straightforward. Export returns are being slashed in an intensely competitive global commodities market,” Hooke said.
“While other nations are gearing up, Australia is preparing to impose the world’s highest carbon costs on 90% of its mineral exports.”
Hooke said delaying the ETS was not the answer.
“That would simply be a stay of execution for jobs and projects in the minerals sector,” he said.
“Our concerns with the ETS are that it is out of step with other world schemes, the deployment of low emissions technologies and the development of a global emissions protocol.”
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