Economy of Western Australia

Economy of Western Australia

Mount Tom Price mine: Iron-ore is the state's leading export commodity
Currency	Australian dollar
Statistics
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The Western Australian economy is a state economy dominated by its resources and services sector and largely driven by the export of iron-ore, gold, liquefied natural gas and agricultural commodities such as wheat. Covering an area of 2.5 million km², the state is Australia's largest, accounting for almost one-third of the continent. Western Australia is the nation's fourth most populous state, with 2 million inhabitants (10% of the national population).

In 2011, Western Australia provided 46% of Australia's exports. In 2010-11, Western Australia’s gross state product was A$193 billion (14.6% of Australia's GDP), making it the nation's most productive state with a GSP per capita of $82,653 (compared with the national average of $57,925). If Western Australia were a separate country, it would be among the Top 50 economies in the world by GDP.

Western Australia's economy is largely driven by extraction and processing of a diverse range of mineral and petroleum commodities. The structure of the economy is closely linked to the abundance of natural resources found in the State, providing a comparative advantage in resource extraction and processing. As a consequence:

Western Australia's overseas exports accounted for 46% of the nation's total. The state's major export commodities include iron-ore, alumina, crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), nickel, gold, ammonia, wheat, wool, and live sheep and cattle. Western Australia has become known as the engine room of the Australian economy.

In global terms, Western Australia is a significant producer of a wide range of resource commodities. Australia is the world's largest producer of both bauxite and alumina, with half of national production coming from Western Australia. Alcoa's Huntly mine provides the feedstock for its three refineries at Wagerup, Pinjarra and Kwinana. Worsley Alumina transports bauxite from its Boddington mine to its refinery at Worsley via a 51 km conveyor belt. It is the world's third-largest iron-ore producer (15% of the world's total) and extracts 75% of Australia's 240 tonnes of gold. Diamonds are extracted at Argyle diamond mine in far north of the Kimberley region. Coal mined at Collie is the main fuel for baseload electricity generation in the state's south-west. Australia is the world's fifth largest exporter of LNG, most of which is produced by the North West Shelf Venture near Karratha.