Business turnover for the Mining industry had the largest monthly fall in February of 9.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted), according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: “The large fall in Mining drove the 1.1 per cent drop in turnover for the 13 industry aggregate. This was even with only three of the 13 industries showing a fall.”
“In trend terms, turnover for the 13 industry aggregate dropped 0.1 per cent, which was the first monthly fall since August last year.”
| January 2024 to February 2024 (%) | February 2023 to February 2024 (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Arts and recreation services | 4.8 | 9.8 |
| Accommodation and food services | 3.2 | 9.9 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 2.3 | 14.6 |
| Construction | 1.8 | 11.2 |
| Administrative and support services | 1.5 | 2.5 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 1.3 | 5.8 |
| Retail trade | 0.9 | 3.5 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 0.7 | 2.9 |
| Other services | 0.1 | 5.0 |
| Wholesale trade | 0 | 0.4 |
| Manufacturing | -0.2 | -0.1 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | -0.8 | 5.8 |
| Mining | -9.6 | -13.8 |
The fall in Mining turnover was largely due to falling commodity prices, particularly iron ore prices. The weakness in metal ores was somewhat offset by growth in the Oil & Gas Extraction subdivision, which rose by 5.1 per cent in the month.
Of the nine industries that had increased seasonally adjusted turnover in February, Arts and recreation services saw the largest rise of 4.8 per cent, driven by sporting events like the Australian Grand Prix.
Accommodation and food services was the next highest, up 3.2 per cent, as consumers continued to favour travel and eating out as part of discretionary spending. Accommodation turnover was also boosted by the Taylor Swift concerts in Melbourne and Sydney during February.
Compared to February 2023, turnover was higher for 11 of the 13 industries included in the indicator.
The industries that saw the biggest annual rises were Electricity, gas, water and waste services (14.6 per cent), Construction (11.2 per cent), and Accommodation and food services (9.9 per cent).
Annually, the largest fall was in Mining, down 13.8 per cent.
