Australia’s government expects the nation’s resource and energy exports to hit a record of A$252 billion ($182 billion) in 2018-2019, buoyed by climbing prices for commodities such as natural gas and by a weaker Australian dollar, Reuters reports.
However, the country’s Department of Industry also said in a report that the value of such exports would edge back to around A$238 billion in 2019-2020 even as volumes rise again, pulled down as growing global supply and concerns over demand pressure prices. The figure for 2017-18 was A$227 billion.
“While global economic growth, industry production and manufacturing output have continued to grow strongly so far in 2018, there are some concerning signs for resource and energy commodity producers, particularly with rising global trade tensions,” the department said in the report, released on Tuesday.
China and the United States have been bogged down in a tit-for-tat trade dispute that has hit global markets and stoked worries over the outlook for the global economy.