Ever increasing Chinese demand sent Australia’s iron ore exports to near record levels in recent months, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have shown.

According to ABS numbers, Australia shipped 32.8 million tonnes of iron ore in November last year, a 69% increase compared to the same time in 2008.

The result was also just short of the all time record of 33.2 million set earlier in 2009.The figures also revealed that China has by far been Australia’s biggest iron ore, receiving 74% of the country’s total iron ore exports to November 2009.

The increasingly robust numbers are seen as an indicator of the market’s strength, coming on the back of Rio Tinto last week reporting record iron ore production of 47.2 million tonnes for the final quarter of 2009.

Both BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals will release their latest production reports this week, with similarly strong numbers expected for both.