ABARES’ quarterly Australian Commodities report was released at the Outlook 2011 conference being held at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, 1-2 March.

ABARES’ Deputy Executive Director Paul Morris said earnings from Australia’s commodity exports are forecast to rise by 14 per cent to a record of $251 billion in 2011-12, following a forecast strong increase of 29 per cent to $221 billion in 2010-11.

“Over the medium term, commodity export earnings are projected to be maintained around this value in real terms, reaching around $255 billion in today’s dollars by 2015-16,” Mr Morris said.

For farm products, the value of exports is forecast to rise by 4.4 per cent to $32.5 billion in 2011-12, following an expected increase of around nine per cent to $31.2 billion in 2010-11.

Despite the adverse impact of recent excessive rainfall and floods, the forecast value of farm exports in 2010-11 represents an upward revision of around $1 billion from the forecast released by ABARES in December, mainly reflecting the effect of recent significant increases in agricultural prices on world markets.

For mineral resources, the value of exports is forecast to reach $215 billion in 2011-12, a rise of 16 per cent from a forecast $186 billion in 2010-11. Supported by projected strong commodity demand, especially from China and other emerging Asian markets, earnings from mineral resource exports are projected to reach $219 billion in 2010-11 dollars by 2015-16, according to Mr Morris.

For fisheries and forestry, the value of exports is forecast to reach $4.2 billion in 2011-12, a rise of eight per cent from a forecast $3.9 billion in 2010-11.

In addition to commodity forecasts and projections, the March issue of Australian Commodities also contains two articles titled ‘Financial performance of broadacre and dairy farms — 2008-09 to 2010-11’ and ‘Productivity growth: trends, drivers and opportunities’.