The impact of the latest iron ore driven resources boom was again underlined by the Reserve Bank’s commodities price index for June, the June quarter and the 2018-19 financial year.
The index jumped to a reading of 127.6, the highest the index has been since the height of the resources boom in October 2011 when it hit 129.8.
The Reserve Bank said the index rose 19.2% in the year to June in Australian dollar terms (the Aussie dollar fell by around 5% against the greenback over 2018-19) and 2.3% in June.
Besides the 80% plus surge in iron ore prices, gold was up more than 12% in the year to June and especially in June.
The RBA also said higher beef & veal prices also contributed.
The value of boxed beef exports jumped 26% to $4.3 billion in the nine months to May and there is every chance it will easily top $5 billion by the end of June.
Iron ore prices hit five-year highs last Friday above $US118 a tonne.
The index is a sort of proxy for our terms of trade which were up around 7% in the 9 months to the end of March.
