Australia bridging trade gap

SYDNEY - Australia's trade deficit closed to its lowest gap in almost four years in February as rising commodity prices drove record exports and imports fell.

The trade gap in Australia, the world's largest shipper of coal and iron ore, plunged to A$595 million ($692 million) from a revised A$2.48 billion in January, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney yesterday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 21 economists was for a A$1.8 billion shortfall.

Exports jumped 10 per cent and imports fell 2 per cent.

Central Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane forecasts a pickup in exports will spur Asia-Pacific's fifth-largest economy this year from its slowest growth in four years in 2005.

Miners such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group are benefiting from surging prices for copper, iron ore and coal, driven by Chinese demand.

"Things went gangbusters for us in February, as demand rose and the currency fell, increasing sales," said Jim Reeve, chief operating officer at Perth-based nickel producer Mincor Resources. "China is leading the demand for us at the moment.

"We can't expand fast enough to meet this demand."

Tropical cyclones in January forced the shutdown of an estimated 200,000 barrels of oil production and two iron ore export ports on Australia's northwestern coast. That caused the January trade gap to blow out. Commodities account for almost 60 per cent of Australia's exports.

February's deficit was the smallest since July 2002. Total exports increased to A$16.81 billion in February, yesterday's report showed. Shipments of non-rural goods, which include minerals, surged 15 per cent.

Farm exports, such as meat, sugar, wheat and wool, fell 2 per cent.

Total imports fell to A$17.41 billion from January. Imports of capital goods dropped 12 per cent and imports of consumer goods declined 3 per cent.

- BLOOMBERG