Resource export earnings tumble in 2014/15

Resource export earnings are expected to have dropped 11 per cent in 2014/15, led by falls in iron ore and coal.

Resource and energy export earnings are expected to have tumbled 11 per cent in 2014/15 to $174 billion, the Department of Industry and Science says.

In its quarterly resources and energy report it expects iron ore earnings to have dropped 27 per cent and coal by seven per cent.

However, export earnings are forecast to increase by 2.2 per cent in 2015/16 due to an expected increase in volumes and an assumed depreciation in the Australian dollar, the department's chief economist Mark Cully says.