A more than three percent drop in mining activity has driven down overall Australian business turnover.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, released yesterday, shows business turnover fell 0.7 percent, in seasonally adjusted terms, in August.
ABS Head of Business Statistics Robert Ewing said the drop was driven by a 3.5 percent fall in mining.
“This came as oil and gas extraction businesses reported lower turnover after a strong result in July,” Mr Ewing said.
He said iron ore mining, which continued to be impacted by price falls, also contributed to the lower turnover.
“The other notable drop was from information media and telecommunications, down 2.9 percent.
“The Publishing subdivision led this fall after reporting strong results through the first half of 2024.”
Mr Ewing said the largest industry rises were for “other services” (1.5 percent), construction (1.3 percent), and electricity, gas, water and waste services (1.2 percent).
He said the 13-industry aggregate showed business turnover rising 0.1 percent in trend terms.
“Compared to August 2023, turnover was higher for all 13 industries included in the indicator except for mining, which fell 5.9 percent.
“Industries that saw the biggest annual rises were electricity, gas, water and waste services (17.6 percent) and information media and telecommunications (8.6 percent).”
Read the full dataset: Monthly Business Turnover Indicator August 2024.
