5439.0 - International Merchandise Imports, Australia, Jul 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/08/2008   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

JULY KEY FIGURES

May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
$m
$m
$m

Food and live animals
682
592
667
Beverages and tobacco
116
112
116
Crude materials, inedible, except fuels
224
194
277
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials
3 256
2 903
3 761
Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes
58
26
47
Chemicals and related products, nes
1 977
1 829
1 969
Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material
1 901
1 879
2 029
Machinery and transport equipment
7 097
7 342
7 558
Miscellaneous manufactured articles
2 058
1 985
2 267
Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC
808
654
966
TOTAL
18 177
17 516
19 658


JULY KEY POINTS


ORIGINAL ESTIMATES
  • In original terms, July 2008 merchandise imports were $19,658m, an increase of $2,142m (12%) on the revised June 2008 merchandise imports of $17,516m.


PRELIMINARY BALANCE OF PAYMENTS GOODS IMPORTS
  • Preliminary analysis shows that goods imports (debits) on a balance of payments basis increased by $845m (5%) in seasonally adjusted terms between June and July 2008. Intermediate and other merchandise goods rose $864m (10%) with fuels and lubricants up $822m (29%). Other goods rose $262m (30%) with goods for processing up $146m and non monetary gold up $94m (13%). Capital goods fell $195m (5%) with civil aircraft down $320m (64%) and Consumption goods fell $85m (2%).


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
August 2008 17 September 2008
September 2008 20 October 2008
October 2008 18 November 2008
November 2008 17 December 2008
December 2008 19 January 2009
January 2009 18 February 2009



REVISION

Data presented in this publication have been revised from July 2005 to June 2008 due to updating the Standard International Trade Classification and Balance of Payments Broad Economic Category classifications. These changes do not impact on Total imports or imports by country or state. Refer to Changes in this issue for more information. In addition, revisions have been made to the January to June 2008 months to incorporate the latest source data.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

This issue contains major changes to the product classifications used to present statistics in this publication and related time series spreadsheets and data cubes. The changes result from replacing Standard International Trade Classification Revision 3 (SITC Rev 3) with Standard International Trade Classification Revision 4 (SITC Rev 4) and updating the correspondences used to compile statistics on a Balance of Payments Broad Economic Category (BoPBEC) basis. In addition, correspondences used to compile the related Broad Economic Category (BEC) statistics have been updated. Statistics presented according to the updated correspondences are called BoPBEC Revision 1 and BEC 2007, respectively.

These changes do not impact on Total imports or imports by country or state.

The changes made to statistics presented on a SITC and BoPBEC basis include:
  • all data from July 2005 are presented according to SITC Rev 4 and BoPBEC Rev 1
  • all data prior to July 2005 are presented according to SITC Rev 3 and BoPBEC Rev 1
  • therefore, a break in each of the series occurs between June 2005 and July 2005
  • time series spreadsheet table 3 (543903.xls) presents all SITC 3-digit items instead of the selected 2-digit and 3-digit items previously shown
  • SITC Rev 4 free standing descriptors are used to present data for all periods and care should be taken when using free standing descriptors to interpret data prior to July 2005
  • time series spreadsheets and data cubes have been modified to accommodate labels for SITC Rev 4 and, in some cases, titles and data item descriptions have been modified to improve consistency
  • an error in the concordance between two petroleum tariff item statistical codes and related classifications was previously corrected back to July 2006. This correction has been extended back to July 2005 for good imports for the following classifications:
      • SITC Rev 4 item 33460 - Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude) and preparations n.e.s., containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations, other than waste oils
      • BoPBEC Rev 1 item OK02 - motor spirit and item OK03 - other petroleum.

Data available on request on a consultancy basis from ABS client services includes:
  • SITC Rev 3 basis for 2005-06 and 2006-07 (with SITC Rev 3 for earlier periods available from the relevant time series spreadsheets)
  • BEC basis for all periods prior to July 2007
  • BEC 2007 basis for periods from July 2005.

For further details about the introduction of SITC Rev 4 and the impact on related classifications, refer to the Information Paper: Impact of introducing Revision 4 of the Standard International Trade Classification, 2008 (cat. no. 5368.0.55.010).


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540.