5422.0 - International Merchandise Trade, Australia, Jun 2002  
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Feature Article - Experimental Statistics on Australia's Exporters and Importers


This article was published in International Merchandise Trade, Australia (ABS Catalogue No. 5422.0) June 2002.


INTRODUCTION

This article presents some experimental statistics on Australia's exporters and importers. Estimates for merchandise exporters and importers (businesses that trade in goods) are compiled from data sourced from the Australian Customs Service (Customs) and from the Australian Taxation Office Australian Business Register. Where appropriate, estimates for service exporters and importers compiled from the ABS Survey of International Trade in Services are also included.

The results of this study complement the data in A Portrait of Australian Exporters: A Report Based on the Business Longitudinal Survey (Cat. no. 8154.0), published in August 2000. The results summarised in this article are not strictly comparable with that survey due to scope and business unit differences between the collections.

The statistics on goods exporters and importers included in this article are considered experimental because they are subject to limitations in terms of the data available and methodology applied (which is described in the Appendix).

Data included in this article are for the reference period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001. While Australian Business Number (ABN) reporting for Customs import and export entries has been required from 1 July 2000, it took time for the proportion of entries with an ABN to reach a level sufficient for this analysis.

The ABS invites comments from users on the usefulness of these experimental statistics and the methodology applied. The ABS plans to make greater use of these techniques to add value to statistical datasets without imposing additional reporting load on businesses. Comments should be directed to the Director, International Trade Section, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Locked Bag 10, BELCONNEN ACT 2617 or telephone (02) 6252 5501.


CONCEPTS

GOODS

Users should be aware that:

    a. the owner of the goods is not necessarily the same business or in the same industry that produced the goods e.g. agricultural products are often exported by commodity marketing authorities classified to the wholesaling industry; and businesses solely engaged in importing goods for resale are also classified as wholesalers;
    b. the larger, more complex, business groups may have a number of ABN registrations and more than one of these businesses may report merchandise exports or imports to Customs;
    c. some businesses may only have a small number of export or import entries and these may be insignificant in value. Businesses that had exports or imports of less than $10,000 for the reference period have been excluded from the counts of number of exporters and importers; and
    d. some exports and imports are undertaken by entities that do not operate as businesses within Australia and so are not required to have an ABN. It is not feasible to distinguish these from businesses which did not quote an ABN to Customs, or from households which import / export goods. However, their overall contribution (by value) is estimated to be negligible.


SERVICES

Information on service exporters and importers is available from the Survey of International Trade in Services (SITS). The ABS uses a wide range of information sources to maintain and update its record of businesses engaged in international trade in services. Users should be aware that:
    a. smaller and / or occasional exporters / importers of services will not come to ABS notice and will not be reflected in the statistics;
    b. information on the large number of businesses in Australia which supply goods and services to overseas tourists while in Australia (such as hotels, restaurants, retail, hairdressers, theatres, tourist facilities, transport, etc, - possibly hundreds of thousands of businesses) are not reported in this article, though they contribute to Australia's export performance. The ABS uses data sources other than the SITS to estimate the value of these services;
    c. conversely, the consumption by Australian tourists (households) overseas of goods and services provided by businesses overseas, which is included in Australia's imports, is not included in this analysis; and
    d. Australian-owned businesses located overseas and supplying goods / services in the country in which they are located (usually called foreign affiliates trade) are not included in these estimates because their trade does not directly contribute to Australia's exports of goods and services, though the conditions under which they might be established and operate are subject to World Trade Organisation negotiations.

The current SITS population frame includes about 3,500 businesses. Analysis shows that about 1,000 (29%) of these only export services; 1,200 (34%) both export and import services; and 1,300 (37%) only import services. Some of these businesses also export and / or import goods.


ESTIMATES

Estimates in the following tables for goods exporters and importers have been derived using the methodology described in the Appendix. Data on the number of Customs entries refer to the number of single line entries on Customs records for goods that have been exported from Australia or imported into Australia after clearance by Customs. A line entry is typically completed for each commodity and destination in a single shipment.

The number of businesses excludes those with exports or imports below $10,000 in the six month reference period.


EXPORTERS

Number

The number of businesses exporting goods, in the reference period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001, was estimated to be 22,581, as shown in table F1. This excludes businesses or households whose exports were less than $10,000 in this period. The estimate of the number of exporters is subject to sampling error because of the methodology used. The standard error on the estimate is 641 i.e. there is one chance in twenty that the true value falls outside the range from 21,299 to 23,863.

Analysis of the SITS population indicated that there were approximately 2,200 service exporters for this period (1,000 that export only and 1,200 that both export and import). Using the ABNs, the SITS population was matched against the Customs goods exporter population. Around 35% (770) of businesses that engaged in service exports were also exporters of goods.

By eliminating the double counting, it was estimated that the total number of businesses that exported goods and services in this reference period was 24,011 (22,581 plus 2,200 less 770). Users should note that this estimate is subject to sampling error and a range of non-sampling errors. More accurate estimates will be possible when ABN reporting for goods exporters is further improved. Importantly, users should also note that this estimate generally does not include the large number of businesses that supply goods and services to overseas visitors in Australia.

Australia's goods exports were dominated by a relatively small number of exporters. There were 109 businesses with goods exports of $100m or more, accounting for almost 60% of the value of goods exports during the reference period. The 2,746 largest goods exporters, with exports valued at $1m or more, accounted for 94% of the value of goods exports. There were almost 7,000 businesses exporting between $100,000 and $1m (accounting for 3.5% of the value of all goods exports).

There were about 13,000 businesses with exports valued between $10,000 and $100,000, representing 57% of the number of goods exporters, and 0.8% of the value of goods exports. These businesses averaged five Customs entries each during the reference period.

TABLE F1: EXPORTERS - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001

Exporters
Customs Entries
Average entries
Total exports
Total goods exports
no.
no.
no.
$m
%

Goods exporters
    $100m or more
109
165,823
1,521
36,979
58.9
    $1m and less than $100m
2,637
456,158
173
22,066
35.1
    $100,000 and less than $1m
6,913
164,369
24
2,167
3.5
    $10,000 and less than $100,000
12,922
71,017
5
477
0.8
    Other goods exporters(a)
. .
27,118
. .
1,098
1.7
    Total goods exporters
22,581
884,485
38
62,787
100.0
Service exporters
    Businesses exporting services(b)
2,200
. .
. .
8,248
. .
    Other service exporters(c)
. .
. .
. .
6,972
. .
    Total service exporters
2,200
. .
. .
15,220
. .
Total exporters (d)
24,011
. .
. .
78,007
. .

(a) Includes some identified overseas entities with large exports; aircraft and ships fuel and stores used in transit; exporters less than $10,000 (estimated at $55m).
(b) Excludes services to foreign tourists etc, in Australia.
(c) Travel service exports, i.e. to foreign tourists, etc. in Australia.
(d) Total excludes duplication from businesses which export both goods and services.


Industry

The objective of an industrial classification is to identify groups of businesses which carry out similar economic activities. Each such grouping constitutes an industry and the activities which characterise the businesses are defined as the primary activities of that industry. A business can then be assigned to a particular industry based on its predominant activities. Businesses have been coded to industry based on the description they provided when applying for an Australian Business Number.

The above standard concept of an industry is referred to as industry of exporter or importer in the tables. Until the ABN was introduced, it was not possible to produce trade data on the standard industry basis. Instead, data have previously been classified by industry of origin i.e. commodities traded were allocated to the industry most likely to have produced the good (see Tables 27 and 28 in this publication).

At the present time it is not possible to include service exporters or importers classified by industry, but this is expected to change in the future. The industry tables in this article are therefore restricted to goods exporters and importers.

Readers are reminded that it is the owner of the good at the time of export / import that is being classified here, not the producer of the good. The most significant exporting industries (of the owning business) were manufacturing (38% of the value of goods exports), mining (29%) and wholesale trade (23%), as shown in table F2. These three industries accounted for $56.6b of the $62.8b of goods exported from Australia in the second half of 2001. The next most significant industry was agriculture, forestry and fishing, with 3% or $1.7b. The low values for agriculture, forestry and fishing reflect that most exports of agricultural commodities are made by commodity marketing authorities, which are classified as wholesalers.

The finance and insurance industry accounted for just over 2% of merchandise exports. At first glance this may be unexpected as these industries generally produce services rather than goods. Sometimes the holding company of a diverse business group was the exporter of the goods produced by that group (holding companies are generally classified to the finance industry). In addition, the finance industry had large exports of gold.

Another 1% of exports was attributed to the transport and storage industry, but this appears to be an overstatement due to misreporting. The ABN of the transporter of the goods, or the Customs agent, was sometimes reported on the Customs entries rather than the ABN of the actual owner of the goods. Where this occurred, the ABS was able to resolve the ownership of the largest value exports, but the correct owner information of the smaller value exports was not sought.

TABLE F2: EXPORTERS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001
Exporters(a)
Customs Entries
Total goods exports
Total goods exports
Industry of Exporter
no.
no.
$m
%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
    Agriculture
353
8,449
367
0.6
    Services to agriculture; hunting and trapping
94
4,782
751
1.2
    Forestry and logging
24
631
190
0.3
    Commercial fishing
121
3,426
394
0.6
    Total
592
17,288
1,702
2.7
Mining
    Coal mining
40
2,081
5,560
8.9
    Oil and gas extraction
24
1,139
2,026
3.2
    Metal ore mining
58
9,051
7,674
12.2
    Other mining
65
1,471
595
0.9
    Services to mining
91
10,304
2,475
3.9
    Total
278
24,046
18,331
29.2
Manufacturing
    Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing
709
172,062
6,090
9.7
    Textile, clothing, footwear and
    leather manufacturing
537
19,705
826
1.3
    Wood and paper product manufacturing
188
14,015
449
0.7
    Printing, publishing and recorded media
303
8,249
162
0.3
    Petroleum, coal, chemical and
    associated product manufacturing
882
36,218
3,440
5.5
    Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing
158
7,635
303
0.5
    Metal product manufacturing
639
29,616
6,575
10.5
    Machinery and equipment manufacturing
1,891
95,278
5,619
8.9
    Other manufacturing
534
11,375
362
0.6
    Total
5,841
394,153
23,826
37.9
Electricity, gas and water supply
31
698
109
0.2
Construction
410
5,592
159
0.3
Wholesale trade
    Basic material wholesaling
934
45,263
9,614
15.3
    Machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling
1,955
59,461
1,406
2.2
    Personal and household good wholesaling
2,867
118,576
3,400
5.4
    Total
5,756
223,300
14,419
23.0
Retail trade
    Food retailing
128
4,044
60
0.1
    Personal and household good retailing
1,074
27,612
510
0.8
    Motor vehicle retailing and services
187
3,035
53
0.1
    Total
1,389
34,691
623
1.0
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
49
1,734
17
0.0
Transport and storage
650
19,221
808
1.3
Communication services
102
1,985
85
0.1
Finance and insurance
398
15,465
1,454
2.3
Property and business services
1,227
25,175
855
1.4
Government administration and defence
57
1,923
184
0.3
Education
40
314
3
0.0
Health and community services
89
1,589
38
0.1
Cultural and recreational services
151
2,045
41
0.1
Personal and other services
113
2,586
60
0.1
Other
20
555
72
0.1
Industry not known(b)
5,388
112,125
-
-
Total goods exports
22,581
884,485
62,787
100.0

(a) Includes only those businesses that exported at least $10,000 of goods.
(b) The value of exports with 'Industry not known' was $2.4 billion. These exports were prorated across the industries that exported the same commodities. The number of Customs entries for this category includes businesses with exports of less than $10,000.


Table F3 compares the industry of the exporter with the industry of origin of the commodity. This shows that mining commodities had the highest proportion of exports (80%) by the industry that generally produced them i.e. the mining industry. By comparison, only 15% of Australia's $6.6b of agricultural, forestry and fishing commodity exports were exported directly by the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Most were exported by wholesalers (76%).

Exports of manufactured goods were $37.5b, of which $22.2b (59%) were exported by the manufacturing industry, $7.2b (19%) by the wholesale trade industry and $4.4b (12%) by the mining industry. In regard to mining, users should note that semi-processed materials (e.g. alumina) are considered manufactures.

TABLE F3: EXPORTS OF GOODS - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001
COMMODITY INDUSTRY OF ORIGIN

Agriculture,
Total
Industry of exporter
forestry and fishing
Mining
Manufacturing
Other
goods exports

$ MILLION

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
990
n.p.
561
n.p.
1,702
Mining
n.p.
13,879
4,431
n.p.
18,331
Manufacturing
205
906
22,198
517
23,826
Wholesale trade
5,025
2,077
7,153
164
14,419
Finance and insurance
211
156
853
235
1,454
Property and business services
n.p.
n.p.
617
18
855
Other
118
174
1,648
261
2,200
All Industries
6,645
17,316
37,460
1,365
62,787

PERCENT

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
14.9
n.p.
1.5
n.p.
2.7
Mining
n.p.
80.2
11.8
n.p.
29.2
Manufacturing
3.1
5.2
59.3
37.8
37.9
Wholesale trade
75.6
12.0
19.1
12.0
23.0
Finance and insurance
3.2
0.9
2.3
17.2
2.3
Property and business services
n.p.
n.p.
1.6
1.3
1.4
Other
1.8
1.0
4.4
19.1
3.5
All Industries
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0



State Of Origin Of Commodity

In the second half of 2001, 26% of Australia's goods exports came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland with 20%. These two States accounted for 74% ($13.7b) of exports by the mining industry. New South Wales and Victoria each accounted for 18% of Australia's exports, most of which were by the manufacturing industry.

TABLE F4: EXPORTS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER BY STATE OF ORIGIN OF COMMODITY - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001
New South
South
Western
Total goods
Industry of exporter
Wales
Victoria
Queensland
Australia
Australia
Tasmania
exports(a)
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
472
165
432
242
118
175
1,702
Mining
1,994
n.p.
5,589
733
8,066
447
18,331
Manufacturing
5,330
6,866
2,845
2,267
4,374
432
23,826
Wholesale trade
2,827
3,161
3,059
1,299
2,600
67
14,419
Finance and insurance
246
262
88
43
509
n.p.
1,454
Property and business services
196
n.p.
190
37
99
n.p.
855
Other
544
318
281
53
335
19
2,200
All Industries
11,609
11,315
12,484
4,674
16,100
1,152
62,787

(a) Includes exports from the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and re-exports.

IMPORTERS

Number

The number of businesses importing goods, in the reference period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001, was estimated to be 41,110. This excludes businesses whose imports were less than $10,000 in this period.

The 70 largest goods importers accounted for $21.9b (36%) of Australia's goods imports. There were 5,328 businesses that imported goods worth $1m or more, together accounting for $55.8b (91%) of goods imports.

Analysis of the SITS population indicated that there were approximately 2,500 service importers for this period (1,200 that both export and import and 1,300 that import only). Users should note that some businesses import both goods and services, but no estimate of the total number of importers of goods and / or services, eliminating duplicates, has yet been made.

TABLE F5: IMPORTERS - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001
Importers
Customs Entries
Average entries
Total imports
Total goods imports
no.
no.
no.
$m
%

Goods importers
    $100m or more
70
465,759
6,654
21,890
35.8
    $1m and less than $100m
5,258
1,736,460
330
33,858
55.4
    $100,000 and less than $1m
13,170
483,434
37
4,452
7.3
    $10,000 and less than $100,000
22,612
168,609
7
836
1.4
    Less than $10,000
. .
89,648
. .
126
0.2
    Total goods importers
41,110
2,943,910
69
61,163
100
Service importers
    Businesses importing services(a)
2,500
. .
. .
10,784
    Other service importers(b)
. .
. .
. .
5,702
. .
    Total service importers
2,500
. .
. .
16,486
. .
Total importers (c)
43,610
. .
. .
77,649
. .

(a) Excludes services to Australian tourists, etc. overseas.
(b) Travel service imports, i.e. to Australian tourists, etc. overseas.
(c) No estimate has been made of businesses importing both goods and services.


Industry

Most goods imports were by the wholesale trade (44% by value) and manufacturing (37%) industries. Together these accounted for $49.4b (81%) of Australia's $61.2b goods imports during the second half of 2001. The next most significant industry was retail trade with $3.7b (6%) of goods imports. Imports by machinery and equipment manufacturers, and machinery and motor vehicle wholesalers, were significant, together accounting for $22.5b (37%) of Australia's goods imports.

TABLE F6: IMPORTERS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF IMPORTER - HALF YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2001
Importers(a)
Customs Entries
Total imports
Total goods imports
no.
no.
$m
%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
    Agriculture
362
3,223
86
0.1
    Services to agriculture; hunting and trapping
105
1,384
n.p.
n.p.
    Forestry and logging
22
876
n.p.
n.p.
    Commercial fishing
82
794
52
0.1
    Total
571
6,277
204
0.3
Mining
    Coal mining
11
58
n.p.
n.p.
    Oil and gas extraction
30
3,798
n.p.
n.p.
    Metal ore mining
41
1,110
313
0.5
    Other mining
40
823
100
0.2
    Services to mining
98
8,272
136
0.2
    Total
220
14,061
2,301
3.8
Manufacturing
    Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing
572
30,039
1,494
2.4
    Textile, clothing, footwear and
    leather manufacturing
1,022
58,600
1,005
1.6
    Wood and paper product manufacturing
359
14,713
659
1.1
    Printing, publishing and recorded media
531
26,638
687
1.1
    Petroleum, coal, chemical and
    associated product manufacturing
1,018
101,972
6,235
10.2
    Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing
315
9,860
207
0.3
    Metal product manufacturing
908
41,431
2,092
3.4
    Machinery and equipment manufacturing
2,651
454,393
9,573
15.7
    Other manufacturing
912
45,097
824
1.3
    Total
8,288
782,743
22,776
37.2
Electricity, gas and water supply
78
3,776
177
0.3
Construction
885
24,949
546
0.9
Wholesale trade
    Basic material wholesaling
1,840
122,163
4,025
6.6
    Machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling
4,338
707,527
12,970
21.2
    Personal and household good wholesaling
7,321
565,251
9,592
15.7
    Total
13,499
1,394,941
26,587
43.5
Retail trade
    Food retailing
276
20,108
250
0.4
    Personal and household good retailing
4,410
307,570
2,897
4.7
    Motor vehicle retailing and services
672
32,184
582
1.0
    Total
5,358
359,862
3,729
6.1
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
144
2,699
20
0.0
Transport and storage
538
31,572
1,044
1.7
Communication services
183
12,641
254
0.4
Finance and insurance
668
20,837
649
1.1
Property and business services
2,446
100,561
1,728
2.8
Government administration and defence
147
11,728
n.p.
n.p.
Education
106
3,332
20
0.0
Health and community services
244
4,572
94
0.2
Cultural and recreational services
386
6,155
104
0.2
Personal and other services
343
7,157
97
0.2
Other
34
6,758
n.p.
n.p.
Industry not known(b)
6,972
149,289
-
-
Total
41,110
2,943,910
61,163
100.0

(a) Includes only those businesses that imported at least $10,000 of goods.
(b) The value of imports with 'Industry not known' was $0.7 billion. These imports were prorated across the industries that imported the same commodities. The number of Customs entries for this category includes businesses with imports of less than $10,000.


FUTURE WORK

The ABS would appreciate feedback on the usefulness of these experimental estimates and how frequently such estimates should be compiled. It does not expect to commence regular publication of any additional data series until it is able to apply a similar methodology to match Customs records with the ABS business register. Planned developments within Customs and the ABS are expected to improve the quality of the input data, the efficiency of the processes involved, and the comparability of the estimates produced with other data sources.


APPENDIX: METHODS USED IN COMPILING THE GOODS STATISTICS


INTRODUCTION

The introduction of the Australian Business Number (ABN), in July 2000, provides the opportunity to expand the range of data available on the international trading activities of Australian businesses, by linking records in different administrative data sources.

There is considerable interest in the characteristics of Australian businesses that trade internationally, particularly those that export. Prior to the introduction of the ABN, it was not generally possible to bring together from Customs systems all the import or export transactions relating to a single business. Similarly, there was no effective means of linking this information with other information held on that business.

Supply of customs and taxation information to the ABS for statistical purposes is provided for, both by the Commonwealth legislation relating to the requirements for these records to be lodged, and the Census and Statistics Act 1905. Data supplied to the ABS are protected by the secrecy provisions of Section 19 of the Act which protects the rights of data providers.

Some information on exporters has been available from ABS surveys, such as the longitudinal survey of businesses conducted during the period 1994 to 1998 which collected information from a sample of exporters.

Surveys are expensive to run and place a significant load on data providers. Linking of existing datasets allows new statistics to be created, without placing any additional reporting load on businesses.

The statistics on goods exporters and importers included in this article are considered experimental because they are subject to limitations in terms of the data available and methodology applied.

Data included in this article are for the reference period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001. While ABN reporting for Customs import and export entries has been required from 1 July 2000, it took time for the proportion of entries with an ABN to reach a level sufficient for this analysis. To enhance the analysis in the chosen reference period, steps were taken by the ABS to improve ABN accuracy and coverage in the data supplied.


METHODOLOGY

To determine some of the characteristics of Australia's exporters and importers of goods, information in respect of businesses identified from Customs records was extracted from the Australian Business Register. The statistics on goods exporters and importers published in this article have been produced by applying the following steps.

Graph 1 - Steps in Methodology



Step 1: Exports and imports of goods were each aggregated by individual ABN. For large value exports / imports that did not provide an ABN of the owner, the exporter's / importer's name on the Customs entries was used to clerically identify the relevant ABN from the ABR. This increased the proportion of Customs entries covered by an ABN to 89.5% of export entries (95.6% by value of exports) and 96.3% of import entries (98.9% by value of imports).

Step 2: The industry, classified to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, 1993 (ANZSIC), of each business was extracted from the Australian Business Register. For the largest value exporters and importers, the industry code assigned by the ATO was checked against the ABS business register and any differences resolved. The industry is coded by the ATO from the description supplied when the business applied for an ABN.

Step 3: Merge trade and Australian Business Register industry data by ABN.

Step 4: Where businesses exported or imported less than $10,000 in goods during the reference period, they were excluded from the business counts in the tables. Most of these very small importers / exporters had only one transaction during the period.

Step 5: For exporters / importers for which no ABN was known, the business characteristics could not be determined. In these cases, the value data were distributed according to the patterns observed for businesses with an ABN that exported / imported the same commodities (at the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) / Harmonized Tariff Item Statistical Code (HTISC) 4-digit level).

The number of businesses covered by those Customs entries without a recorded ABN was estimated. A random sample of the exporter names with no ABN was taken. ABNs were identified clerically for the sampled businesses. ABNs in the sample were then matched against the businesses with ABNs. The number of additional exporters identified from the sample was used to estimate the number of unique exporters for which there was no ABN.

The total number of goods importers was derived in a more straightforward fashion. All goods importers must be registered with Customs and are allocated a unique 'Owner number'. The number of import Owner numbers has a close relationship to the number of ABNs. The number of Owner numbers without an associated ABN was simply added to the number of importers with an ABN to obtain the overall estimate.

Step 6: As required by ABS legislation, data were actively confidentialised, i.e. confidential cells of data are not published. The normal treatment of international merchandise trade data is covered by special legislative confidentiality rules, whereby confidential commodities are placed in a separate category 'Combined confidential items of trade and commodities'. The different methods result in slightly different aggregated output for State and Industry of origin data.


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