“The fact we’ve been able to keep it operating during this time has not only protected the Western Australian economy, but has underwritten the Australian economy,” said WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt.

“[In] March, when we really were at the depths of the crisis, in China steel production actually increased, so somehow China managed to keep the steel mills going even though their supply chains were affected by the virus,” he said.

“When you’ve got a sector that [is] contributing 40 per cent of all economic output to the state, then that actually does place you at a certain level of risk if something happens to that sector or something happens to the major trading partner,” said Rebecca Cassells, the Principal  Research Fellow at Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. “In this case, it’s China.”

“As part of the 3 year ‘Blue Sky’ environmental initiative, which runs from 2018 – 2020. This initiative is driving domestic steelmakers to utilise high-grade iron ore (Fe 58 – 62%), which principally originates from Australia and Brazil,” said Vinneth Bajaj, Senior Mining Analyst at GlobalData.