Some of the key highlights from this report are:
Need for a clear embodied decarbonisation price signal in international trade, extending the EU ETS and CBAM with an Asian CBAM
Iron ore and met coal exports from Australian mines in FY 2024 generated gross profit of A$120bn from the Asian Steel Sector, plus A$10 bn pa of royalties to each of WA and Queensland state governments.
By comparison, the gross profit margin of the Chinese steel sector over the decade to 2020 averaged 2-4% pa. Value-adding appears to be high risk, low return, absent a price on embodied carbon emissions.
On current market prices, value-adding ~40% of Australia’s iron ore exports could generate A$174bn in annual export revenues from green iron. Coupled with additional iron ore export revenues of A$77bn, this would translate to a doubling of iron export revenues to A$250bn.
Failure to overcome the technical & economic challenges of green iron risks the reality that our exports halve, as traditional importers restructure & decarbonise supply chains, prioritising regions of high-quality iron ore & low-cost ironmaking.
Access the report here
