Australia Trade Surplus May Narrow Further as Floods Intensify
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Australia’s trade surplus narrowed in November as the value of coal exports dropped, and economists said it may deteriorate further as rising floodwaters in the nation’s northeast shutter mines and ruin crops.
The excess of exports over imports totaled A$1.93 billion ($1.92 billion), down from a revised A$2.56 billion surplus in October, the Bureau of Statistics said in a report in Sydney today. Citigroup Inc. economists said damage from the deluge to coking coal mines, agriculture and infrastructure in Queensland state could cut exports by more than A$1 billion a month.