Industries with Biggest Decline in Exports in Australia in 2026

• 1. Prefabricated Wooden Building Manufacturing in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -25.0%

  Manufacturers have faced fluctuations in downstream household, building and tourism markets over the past five years. Overall, industry revenue is expected to have grown at an annualised 3.4% over the five years through 2024-25, to $640.0 million.

  Growth in capital expenditure on non-residential building construction has underpinned sales of relocatable buildings like modular classrooms, pop-up kiosks and site storage facilities. Sales in the commercial property market helped cushion t...

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• 2. Shipbuilding and Repair Services in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -17.7%

  The Shipbuilding and Repair Services industry performance is heavily influenced by government funding, particularly lucrative contracts for supplying ships and submarines to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Shipbuilders have seen a significant surge in revenue over recent years, thanks to the Naval Shipbuilding Plan (NSP) and the 2022 Defence Strategic Review (DSR). These planning infrastructures brought an element of unpredictability to numerous projects because of the Federal Government's d...

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• 3. Forestry and Logging in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -12.6%

  Weak downstream demand has meant the Forestry and Logging industry has endured challenging operating conditions in recent years. Harvesting volumes have tumbled and downstream demand across key markets has fallen, contributing to a drop in industry profitability over the past five years. Lower demand from wood chipping and drops in residential building construction in particular have driven several years of dwindling revenue. Falling domestic timber prices over the three years through 2024-25...

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• 4. Liquefied Natural Gas Production in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -11.6%

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• 5. Lubricants and Other Petroleum Product Manufacturing in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -10.5%

  Lubricants and other petroleum product manufacturers further refine heavy and light oil components into various petroleum-based products using oil and grease base stocks with key products, including lubricating oils and greases, bitumen and aromatic hydrocarbons. Others distil coal to produce coke and coal tar. This means that the industry is highly susceptible to developments in the upstream petroleum refining and coal mining sectors. In particular, the industry has been adversely affected b...

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• 6. Petroleum Refining and Petroleum Fuel Manufacturing in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -10.0%

  The Petroleum Refining and Petroleum Fuel Manufacturing industry has faced highly volatile conditions over recent years, as the pandemic wreaked turmoil on global energy supply chains. The global situation filtered down to Australia's petroleum market, contributing to the closure of two of Australia's last four remaining oil refineries. BP closed its refinery in Kwinana, while ExxonMobil shut down the Altona refinery. Both the closed refineries were converted into import terminals, directly i...

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• 7. Cotton Ginning in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -9.5%

  The Cotton Ginning industry is an important part of the agricultural support services and national cotton sectors, and is closely linked to the Cotton Growing industry. That’s why various agricultural and weather-related factors indirectly affect cotton ginners, like climatic conditions, water supply regulation, cotton stockpiling, and global cotton consumption and production fluctuations. Typically, cotton is harvested and ginned towards the end of the financial year, with any surplus produc...

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• 8. Steel Pipe and Tube Manufacturing in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -9.4%

  Steel pipe and tube manufacturers have faced challenging trading conditions. Demand from downstream markets has declined significantly, hampering manufacturing. International competition in the global steel market has also contributed to the industry's deteriorating performance, with low-cost manufacturers outcompeting domestic producers. Declining domestic demand and escalating input costs have harmed manufacturers’ profit margins. Industry revenue is expected to decline at an annualised 0.3...

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• 9. Coal Mining in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -9.3%

  Coal is a key input in steelmaking and energy generation. Although coal deposits are found all over the world, Australia is one of the world's lowest-cost producers and a major coal exporter. Domestic reserves exceed domestic demand, are high grade and are economical to access. As a result, exports account for a large share of coal mining revenue. Imports are negligible, as local production is higher than domestic demand for coal. Black coal mining accounts for most activity, with some brown ...

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• 10. Silver, Lead and Zinc Ore Mining in Australia

  Decline in Exports for 2026: -8.8%

  Revenue for the Silver, Lead and Zinc Ore Mining industry has recently been highly volatile. This has been due to fluctuations in prices of lead, silver and zinc, driven by economic events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Revenue is expected to increase at an annualised 2.8% over the five years through 2023-24, to $6.0 billion. This trend includes an expected 6.8% plunge in 2023-24, reflecting the normalisation of zinc, silver and lead prices. 

  Over the past fi...

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