Austrália flag Austrália: Contexto político-econômico

Valores de comércio da Austrália

Foreign Trade in Figures

Australia is very open to international trade, which represented 40% of its GDP in 2022 (World Bank, 2023). It had the 12th freest economy in the world in 2022, placing its trade freedom as one of the highest worldwide (The Heritage Foundation, 2023). The country mainly exports iron ores slag and ash (38% of total exports), mineral fuels, oils, distillation products (28%), gold and other precious stones, metals, coins and pearls (5.5%), meat and edible meat offal (3.2%). On the other hand, its main imports include machinery (15%), Vehicles other than railway and tramway (13%), Electrical and electronic equipment (11%), Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products (10%) and pharmaceutical products with 4,2% of total imports (Trading Economics, 2023).

Its main partners are China, Japan, South Korea, India, the USA, New Zealand, and Vietnam (World Bank, 2023). Structurally, Australian foreign trade is highly dependent on the Chinese economic situation and the country's diplomatic relations with China. As a bloc, the EU is Australia's second largest trading partner. As such, the European Union and Australia opened free trade negotiations in 2018 and have held 13 rounds of talks. But a deal has been held up by EU concerns over Australia's climate change commitments and a bust-up over Canberra's cancellation of a submarine contract with France in 2021. Australia is pushing to seal a free trade agreement with EU authorities in the first half of 2023. The country is also negotiating trade agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Peru, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. On the 15th of November 2020 Australia has also signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries. This free trade agreement is the largest trade deal in history, covering 30 per cent of the global economy. It includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN : Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea). The RCEP covers goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation. It also creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium sized enterprises.

The country's trade balance was characterised by a structural deficit until 2007, but since then the country has been alternating between periods of surplus and deficit. The latest trade data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Investment (DFAT) confirmed that the Australian trade sector is highly resilient and performed strongly (Source: DFAT Trade and Investment publications and articles, accessed January 2022). Australia achieved a record high surplus of over A$75 billion in 2020, in terms of the trade balance in goods and services, an increase on the previous two years with A$68 billion in 2019 and A$22 billion in 2018. This record was again broken in 2021 with 91.95 billion AUD (Source: DFAT Trade and Investment publications and articles, accessed January 2023). Most of this trade is with Asia. 12 of Australia’s 15 largest trading partners are within the Asia region.

In 2021, Australia exported AUD 344.82 billion of goods and services (USD 240,8 billion), a 7,4% increase compared to the previous year (WTO, 2023). Seasonally adjusted, as of November 2022, Australia's trade balance was $13,201 millions (DFTA, 2023).

 
Foreign Trade Values 20172018201920202021
Imports of Goods (million USD) 228,780235,386221,564211,109261,165
Exports of Goods (million USD) 231,131257,098271,005250,578344,829
Imports of Services (million USD) 66,61072,18670,72537,22539,272
Exports of Services (million USD) 64,04268,52470,14847,87745,274

Source: World Trade Organisation (WTO) ; Latest available data

Foreign Trade Indicators 20172018201920202021
Foreign Trade (in % of GDP) 42.043.445.844.239.9
Trade Balance (million USD) 10,47320,83648,09540,51087,723
Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD) 6,85516,72046,98150,59291,082
Imports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) 5.27.00.2-7.0-3.4
Exports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) 5.54.13.9-1.7-8.4
Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) 20.721.521.720.217.8
Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) 21.221.924.224.022.1

Source: World Bank ; Latest available data

Foreign Trade Forecasts 20222023 (e)2024 (e)2025 (e)2026 (e)
Volume of exports of goods and services (Annual % change) 3.37.24.02.42.1
Volume of imports of goods and services (Annual % change) 12.64.94.42.72.4

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook ; Latest available data

Note: (e) Estimated Data

 
International Economic Cooperation
Australia is a member of the following international economic organisations: OECD, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), WTO, G-20, Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), ICC, among others. For the full list of economic and other international organisations in which participates Australia click here. International organisation membership of Australia is also outlined here.
Free Trade Agreements
Australia is a member of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed on 15 November 2020. The complete and up-to-date list of Free Trade Agreements signed by Australia can be consulted here.
 

Main Partner Countries

Main Customers
(% of Exports)
2021
China 34.2%
Japan 8.9%
South Korea 6.6%
India 4.0%
United States 3.2%
See More Countries 43.2%
Main Suppliers
(% of Imports)
2021
China 27.9%
United States 10.2%
Japan 6.0%
Thailand 4.4%
Germany 4.3%
See More Countries 47.2%

Source: Comtrade, 2022. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

 
 

Main Products

342.0 bn USD of products exported in 2021
Iron ores and concentrates, incl. roasted iron...Iron ores and concentrates, incl. roasted iron pyrites 33.9%
Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels...Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal 13.6%
Petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbonsPetroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons 11.2%
Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought...Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought or not further worked than semi-manufactured or in powder form 5.1%
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude 2.2%
See More Products 34.0%
261.6 bn USD of products imported in 2021
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (excl. crude); preparations containing >= 70% by weight of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations, n.e.s.; waste oils containing mainly petroleum or bituminous minerals 7.6%
Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, incl. station wagons and racing cars (excl. motor vehicles of heading 8702) 6.9%
Motor vehicles for the transport of goods, incl....Motor vehicles for the transport of goods, incl. chassis with engine and cab 3.5%
Automatic data-processing machines and units...Automatic data-processing machines and units thereof; magnetic or optical readers, machines for transcribing data onto data media in coded form and machines for processing such data, n.e.s. 3.2%
Telephone sets, incl. telephones for cellular...Telephone sets, incl. telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, incl. apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network [such as a local or wide area network]; parts thereof (excl. than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528) 3.2%
See More Products 75.6%

Source: Comtrade, 2022. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

 
 

To go further, check out our service Import Export Flows.

 

Main Services

49.2 bn USD of services exported in 2020
52.50%
15.77%
7.15%
6.56%
6.53%
6.09%
1.78%
1.34%
0.97%
0.83%
0.48%
39.0 bn USD of services imported in 2020
25.66%
23.36%
17.35%
8.99%
8.85%
5.15%
3.35%
3.19%
2.22%
1.88%

Source: United Nations Statistics Division, 2023. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

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