GROWING VALUE AND VOLUME OF AUSTRALIAN EXPORTS: DFAT BREAKS DOWN TRADE BY STATE AND TERRITORY

One story this week that may not have caught your attention is the release of trade figure data by state, which showed some very interesting results.

Western Australia (WA) is Australia’s top exporter State, accounting for 35.1 per cent of Australia’s total exports in 2016–17. Queensland is second with 22.4 per cent and New South Wales (NSW) is third with 22.3 per cent. Releasing the report on Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has again highlighted that resources remain the major export for Australia’s States and Territories. Aptly titled Australia’s Trade by State and Territory 2016–17, the report presents international trade statistics as collected by the Australian Customs and Border Protection service and the ABS.

Iron ore and concentrates ($62 billion) was the major export for WA and coal was the major export for QLD ($29 billion) and NSW ($15 billion). The main export for Victoria was education-related travel services ($9 billion), for South Australia it was alcoholic beverages ($1.5 billion) and for Tasmania it was zinc ($639 million). China remains the largest trading partner for all states and the Northern Territory, however Switzerland came in at number once as the Australian Capital Territory’s largest trading partner.

The report also detailed growing export market with Queensland boasting 30.4 per cent increase in 2016–17, followed by WA at 18.5 per cent and NSW at 13.1 per cent. Following this week’s signing of the renewed and amended TPP-11, these figures are set to be strengthened for the year ahead.