Major commodities

2025-26 Major Commodities data file

Minerals

Iron Ore

• Value: $122 billion, around the same level as recent years, and the top commodity overall.
• Quantity: a record of 905 Mt dry primarily due to the ongoing ramp-up of Mineral Resources’ Onslow project, improved mine performance at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations following implementation of productivity initiatives and fewer weather events, as well as record shipments by Fortescue on increased magnetite production volumes.
• Prices: the benchmark grade (61 per cent iron from 2 January 2026) was relatively stable at an average of US$104 per tonne, compared to US$101 per tonne in 
  2024–25. Prices were largely supported by rising costs as the market remained well supplied and Chinese steel demand growth was sluggish.

Gold

• Value: $42 billion, an all-time high for gold.
• Quantity: grew to 6.8 million troy ounces, or 212 tonnes, on operation improvements, expansions, restarts and new mines. These developments specifically included:
  • Resolution of operational issues at Telfer under the new ownership of Greatland Gold.
  • The ramp-up of the expanded mill at Evolution Mining’s Mungari project.
  • The start-up of New Murchison Gold’s Garden Gully project including operations at Crown Prince.
  • Operational advancements at Focus Minerals’ Coolgardie project. 
  • Ramp-up of Black Cat Syndicate’s refurbished Paulsens and new development at Kal East.
  • Genesis Minerals’ early restart of the Laverton mill and ramp-up of new satellite mines.
• Prices: reached new heights of around US$5,500 per troy ounce in late January 2026 and an annual average of more than US$4,200 per ounce. Gold benefitted from its safe-haven investment status in an environment of global tensions and economic uncertainty but inflationary pressures are a risk to its ongoing strength.

Lithium

Other Minerals

• Alumina: sales revenue was less than $6.1 billion. Production declined to 10.6 Mt, its lowest level in 25 years. Alcoa had reduced production due to plant instability and gas supply disruptions in early 2026. Prices were significantly lower due to increased supply with major new and expansion refining projects coming online in China and Indonesia. 
• Mineral Sands: $1.3 billion in revenue. Titanium mineral quantities were significantly higher with ilmenite up primarily from the ramp-up of heavy mineral concentrate production and sales from Image Resources’ Atlas project, while natural rutile was up mainly on increased sales by Iluka Resources. The ramp-up of the Atlas project also helped support higher zircon sales volumes. Synthetic rutile production was lower because of lluka Resources’ suspension of Synthetic Rutile Kiln 2 at Cataby from December 2025. Prices were weaker as stagnant downstream demand, particularly from the Chinese construction sector, combined with ample global production and rising inventories. 
• Nickel: contained nickel sales were valued at $1.2 billion. Production declined to only 51 kt, the lowest level since at least the 1980s, with Glencore’s Murrin Murrin and IGO’s Nova operations being the State’s only nickel producers. Weak prices persisted due to an oversupplied market driven by soaring Indonesian production.
• Copper: by-product and contained-in-concentrate copper sales were valued at $1.1 billion. Production fell to its lowest level since 2004–05 due to lower copper concentrate production from Boddington, driven by planned pit sequencing through lower-grade ore zones, and lower by-product production following the suspension of BHP’s Nickel West operations. Prices were at record levels, including a new daily high of more than US$14,000 per tonne in May 2026.
• Rare Earths: 35.3 million kilograms of rare earth oxides (contained in concentrate and carbonate) were sold from Lynas Rare Earths’ operations. This was a record supported by strong market conditions, despite power supply issues at Lynas Rare Earth’s Kalgoorlie Rare Earths Processing Facility towards the end of 2025.
• Salt: $694 million in revenue and near record production of 12.4 Mt.
• Coal: $448 million in revenue and production of 4.7 Mt.
• Manganese: $395 million in revenue and the highest quantity in more than a decade of 637 kt.
• Silver: a record $321 million in revenue supported by record prices, including highs of more than US$100 per troy ounce in late January 2026.
• Construction Materials: production valued at $253 million, one of the highest levels on record.
• Lead: a historical high of $225 million on volumes of 75 kt due to improved concentrate production from Endurance Mining’s Abra operation.
• Cobalt: $200 million on reduced by-product production following the suspension of BHP’s Nickel West operations.

Petroleum

Liquefied natural gas

• Value: $30 billion, a five-year low but still high historically reflecting the LNG industry’s scale and longer-term growth.
• Quantity: down to 43.7 Mt due to Prelude’s Turnaround 2026 operational, management and workforce overhaul, while the NWS was affected by natural field decline and severe weather associated with Tropical Cyclone Narelle in March 2026. Wheatstone was also impacted by Narelle. Pluto was affected by Tropical Cyclone Mitchell in February 2026 as well as planned maintenance and modifications in preparation for Scarborough gas. Gorgon production, however, reached record levels well above its nameplate.
• Prices: Australian export prices fell to around US$9 per Million British thermal units, the lowest level in five years. Most long-term LNG exports from WA are linked to crude oil prices with a lag. This means that higher prices driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz had yet to flow through to LNG contract prices in the 2025–26 financial year. Asia-Pacific LNG spot prices were relatively stable year-on-year, on the balance of fluctuations during the year. Prices weakened in the second half of 2025 as substantial production growth, particularly from the United States and Qatar, outpaced global demand. These falls were offset by higher prices from March 2026 associated with disruptions to shipping from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz.

Condensate

• Value: $6.8 billion, also a five-year low but still high historically.
• Quantity: 9.8 GL, the lowest level since 2018, on lower output primarily from the NWS, Prelude, Wheatstone and Pluto.

Domestic gas

• Value: more than $3 billion, around the same level as recent years.
• Quantity: 10.8 billion cubic metres (bcm), down from 11.6 bcm the previous year, on lower output from the NWS, Wheatstone and Gorgon. However, production was higher from Santos’ Varanus Island Hub following a successful John Brookes well intervention campaign, steady production from the Halyard-2 well, and improved reliability. Production from the Perth Basin also increased with the start-up of the Waitsia Stage 2 expansion.
• Prices: prices stabilised when compared with 2024–25 at an average of $7.50 per gigajoule.

Oil

• Value: $1.37 billion, a near 30-year low.
• Quantity: 1.9 GL, the lowest level since the late 1980s. The annual decline reflected the end of life of the Chevron-operated Barrow Island oil project from May 2025, and Santos’ Van Gogh project from July 2025. Production was lower due to planned maintenance on the NWS’s Okha floating production, storage and offloading vessel. There was also damage to operations at Enfield/Vincent, Pyrenees, Stag and Wandoo from Tropical Cyclone Narelle in March 2026 that lead to lost production. The longer-term decline in WA oil production is more likely due to natural field depletion and a lack of new discoveries to replenish supply over the past 25 years.
• Prices: Brent crude prices were an average of US$79 per barrel, up from US$75 per barrel in 2024–25. Prices remained below US$70 per barrel during the second half of 2025 (the lowest level since 2021) reflecting increased production, particularly from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia while demand was subdued amid slowing economic growth. Prices subsequently rose above US$120 per barrel in April 2026 following the closure of, and disruption to shipping through, the Strait of Hormuz.