Australian government forecasted that as China’s metal demands and outputs rebounded, Australian mineral output is expected to increase before the first half of 2010, espcailly iron ore and coal. However, the government forecasted that the earning will decline due to price reduction.
The current iron ore price is about 33 percent lower than price in 2008, and thermal coal price is even 44 percent lower.
On the other hand, some people warned that rise in output was trigged by stockpile in China, not by actual demands.
Source: Yieh.com