Australia's Mining Capital Expenditure Up 5.6% in Q3

Private new capital expenditure (capex) rose 0.6 per cent in the September quarter 2023 (seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures) to be 10.7 per cent higher than a year ago, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: "The mining industry was the main driver behind the growth in total new capital expenditure, increasing by 5.6 per cent in the quarter. This was offset by a fall in non-mining industries, down 1.3 per cent after large rises in the previous four quarters."

Capex was up 0.5 per cent for new equipment and machinery and 0.7 per cent for buildings and structures.

Building and structures, and Equipment and machinery

	Building - Seasonal ($m)	Building - Trend ($m)	Equipment - Seasonal ($m)	Equipment - Trend ($m)
Sep-03	7,551	7,434	10,134	9,959
Dec-03	7,670	7,626	10,196	10,128
Mar-04	7,542	7,852	9,798	10,093
Jun-04	8,272	8,045	10,102	10,255
Sep-04	8,259	8,306	10,432	10,679
Dec-04	8,515	8,626	11,778	11,118
Mar-05	9,351	9,218	10,994	11,410
Jun-05	9,885	10,178	11,798	11,815
Sep-05	11,515	11,223	12,372	12,537
Dec-05	12,611	12,349	13,559	13,219
Mar-06	13,008	13,329	13,473	13,384
Jun-06	14,380	13,650	12,945	13,219
Sep-06	13,396	13,473	13,175	13,026
Dec-06	12,667	13,425	13,053	13,149
Mar-07	15,520	15,167	13,583	13,684
Jun-07	16,313	15,731	14,274	14,041
Sep-07	15,318	16,071	14,278	14,344
Dec-07	16,505	16,172	14,653	14,688
Mar-08	16,671	16,320	15,063	15,293
Jun-08	16,296	16,940	16,108	15,917
Sep-08	17,995	18,302	16,374	16,086
Dec-08	20,498	19,396	15,636	15,873
Mar-09	19,219	19,479	15,364	15,444
Jun-09	18,823	18,496	15,648	15,393
Sep-09	17,033	17,628	14,993	15,696
Dec-09	17,514	17,494	16,669	15,911
Mar-10	18,438	18,112	15,568	15,589
Jun-10	18,559	19,084	14,971	14,989
Sep-10	20,717	19,935	14,269	14,845
Dec-10	20,465	20,769	15,769	15,504
Mar-11	22,196	22,438	16,607	16,348
Jun-11	24,391	24,918	16,713	16,944
Sep-11	29,258	27,955	17,314	17,201
Dec-11	29,616	30,937	17,366	17,340
Mar-12	33,752	33,261	17,404	17,442
Jun-12	35,120	34,374	17,427	17,612
Sep-12	33,715	34,151	17,904	17,750
Dec-12	33,103	33,041	17,791	17,604
Mar-13	32,288	32,700	16,958	17,222
Jun-13	32,959	33,178	16,667	16,613
Sep-13	34,372	33,593	16,270	15,975
Dec-13	33,383	33,574	14,955	15,336
Mar-14	31,768	33,208	15,231	15,014
Jun-14	33,196	32,932	14,825	15,229
Sep-14	32,443	32,410	16,009	15,690
Dec-14	31,524	31,227	15,895	15,879
Mar-15	29,074	29,449	15,644	15,540
Jun-15	28,174	27,897	14,866	14,844
Sep-15	25,406	26,205	14,049	14,352
Dec-15	26,002	25,105	14,365	14,257
Mar-16	23,518	23,403	14,429	14,447
Jun-16	21,088	21,524	14,690	14,577
Sep-16	20,086	20,258	14,485	14,498
Dec-16	20,189	20,086	14,350	14,366
Mar-17	20,510	20,396	14,263	14,309
Jun-17	20,620	20,734	14,451	14,423
Sep-17	21,027	20,905	14,685	14,735
Dec-17	20,908	20,873	15,066	15,075
Mar-18	20,548	20,599	15,637	15,440
Jun-18	20,312	20,257	15,439	15,803
Sep-18	19,807	20,021	16,429	16,097
Dec-18	20,364	20,135	16,183	16,308
Mar-19	19,835	19,805	16,317	16,346
Jun-19	19,133	19,426	16,355	16,223
Sep-19	19,337	19,042	15,927	16,071
Dec-19	18,461	18,621	15,945	15,811
Mar-20	18,266	17,988	15,611	15,641
Jun-20	17,249	17,268	14,181	15,694
Sep-20	16,708	16,829	14,279	15,967
Dec-20	16,794	16,897	15,329	16,351
Mar-21	17,450	17,422	16,643	16,625
Jun-21	18,225	18,057	16,762	16,730
Sep-21	18,411	18,572	16,755	16,754
Dec-21	18,931	18,799	16,745	16,814
Mar-22	18,929	18,763	16,929	16,954
Jun-22	18,508	18,746	17,217	17,063
Sep-22	18,918	19,017	17,122	17,164
Dec-22	19,844	19,722	17,210	17,399
Mar-23	20,468	20,528	17,903	17,792
Jun-23	21,363	21,163	18,294	18,193
Sep-23	21,514	21,621	18,393	18,516

"The increase in building and structures investments was driven by mining, up 5.4 per cent. This industry raised its spending on iron-ore projects and battery-related mineral developments. It was offset by a fall in non-mining industries, down 2.2 per cent.

"The construction industry was the largest contributor to the rise in equipment and machinery capex. It grew by 15.0 per cent as supply-chain disruptions continued to ease. This allowed businesses to take delivery of new vehicles and heavy machinery," Mr Ewing said.

Western Australia had the largest rise of the States and Territories, increasing 7.5 per cent in the September quarter. This was offset by a large fall in Queensland, down 10.8 per cent following large rises in the March and June quarters.

State Percentage Movements, Seasonally Adjusted, Chain Volume Measure

	Mar 23 to Jun 23 (% change)	Jun 23 to Sep 23 (% change)
New South Wales	3.4	-2.5
Victoria	5.6	0.6
Queensland	5.7	-10.8
South Australia	4.5	2.5
Western Australia	6.9	7.5
Tasmania	12.0	-1.7
Northern Territory	11.9	2.0
Australian Capital Territory	9.5	7.3

New capital expenditure by State has been very mixed over the past 12 months, with Western Australia and Victoria leading the pack with growth of 24 per cent and 20.1 per cent.

"Growth in Western Australia was dominated by the mining industry, while growth in Victoria reflects a continuing recovery from steep declines during the pandemic," Mr Ewing said.

Figures released today also include updated expectations of planned capex for the financial year. Businesses revised up their expectations by 8.5 per cent (in current prices) since the previous estimate three months ago.

"The strength in planned capital investment shows that businesses expect continued growth in new capital expenditure over the rest of this financial year. The information media and telecommunications industry had a particularly large rise based on planned investment in new data centres," said Mr Ewing.

/ABS Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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