Export Prices go down the slippery dip

The ABS today released the quarterly International Trade Price Indexes, and if you were hoping for signs that the boom in mining prices was still going, I suggest you avert your eyes:

In the past quarter there was a drop of 6.4% for a 13.4% drop over the past 12 months:

Let’s get specific; how about coal?

Ugly.

And all metal ores and minerals together?

When it comes to thinking about managing the budget ask yourself which do you think would be trickier.

This:

or this:

or in terms of changes from the previous year, 1996-2012  it looks like this:

If predictability is your go, you best not want to take over the Treasury in around December 2007, because things started going a bit upsie downsie.