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Feature Article - Australia's Exporters and Importers, 2001–02

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


INTRODUCTION

This article presents experimental statistics on Australia's exporters and importers for the 2001-02 financial year. It builds on an article, 'Experimental Statistics on Australia's Exporters and Importers', published in the June quarter 2002 issue of International Merchandise Trade, Australia (cat. no. 5422.0). That article contained estimates of Australia's exporters and importers for the six month period, July to December 2001. It also outlined the concepts and methodology used to compile the estimates.

The concepts and methodology outlined in the June quarter 2002 article have remained substantially unchanged for compiling the experimental estimates for the 2001-02 financial year in this article. There has however been some expansion of the analysis to enhance the information available about Australia's exporters and importers.

Estimates for exporters and importers of merchandise (businesses that trade in goods) are compiled from data sourced from the Australian Customs Service (Customs) and from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Australian Business Register. Where appropriate, estimates for exporters and importers of offshore services, compiled from the ABS Survey of International Trade in Services (SITS), are also included.

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.

Some of the key limitations with the estimate of the number of exporters are:

a. businesses which exported goods totalling less than $10,000 in the year are excluded from the counts;

b. the businesses included in the counts of exporters of services are those which provide services from their Australian base to services consumers offshore, i.e. supply modes 1 and 4 in the classification used by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). However, smaller and / or occasional exporters will not come to ABS notice and are therefore excluded from the counts. The number of these excluded businesses may be significant, but the value of their exports is not thought to be appreciable in the totality of services exports. The ABS continues to try to identify these businesses and incorporate them into surveys;

c. the counts of services exporters exclude businesses that supply goods or services to foreign tourists or students in Australia only (supply mode 2), such as hotels, restaurants, retail, tourist facilities, transport, theatres, educational institutions, etc, - possibly hundreds of thousands of businesses in Australia;

d. Australian-owned businesses located overseas supplying goods or services in the country in which they are located (usually called foreign affiliates trade - supply mode 3) are excluded from these estimates because their trade does not directly contribute to Australia's exports of goods / services, though the conditions under which they might be established and operate are subject to WTO negotiations;

e. Australian businesses which supply goods or services to other businesses which undertake the exporting function are excluded. These businesses may be supplying goods or services which are subsequently exported. For example, many agricultural products are exported from Australia by wholesalers (such as commodity marketing boards) rather than by the producer; or some consultancy services which are exported may be composed of the work of a number of sub-consultants providing services to the principal consultant, who then exports the combined service.

		Exporters	Customs entries	Average entries	Total exports	Total goods exports
		no.	no.	no.	$m	%
Goods exporters
$100m or more		209	412,410	1,973	83,633	69.1
$1m and less than $100m		4,187	921,483	220	31,910	26.3
$100,000 and less than $1m		9,202	265,527	29	3,026	2.5
$10,000 and less than $100,000		16,642	102,056	6	661	0.5
Other goods exporters(a)		. .	32,323	. .	1,876	1.5
Total goods exporters		30,240	1,733,799	57	121,106	100.0
Service exporters
Businesses exporting services(b)		2,250	. .	. .	16,428	. .
Other service exporters(c)		. .	. .	. .	14,769	. .
Total service exporters		2,250	. .	. .	31,197	. .
Total exporters (d)		31,450			152,303	. .
(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 $66m). (b) Excludes services to foreign tourists, students, etc. in Australia. See exclusions in the introduction to this article. (c) Travel service exports, i.e. to foreign tourists, students, etc. in Australia. (d) Total excludes duplication from businesses which export both goods and services.

		NUMBER OF CUSTOMS ENTRIES
Value of exports		1-2	3-10	11-20	21-50	51 or more	Total
NUMBER OF EXPORTERS
$100m or more		0	(a)	9	17	183	209
$1m and less than $100m		**	279	264	679	2,934	4,187
$100,000 and less than $1m		791	2,253	2,359	2,225	1,574	9,202
$10,000 and less than $100,000		5,620	8,360	1,964	639	**	16,642
Total goods exporters		6,442	10,892	4,596	3,560	4,750	30,240
Exporters below $10,000 threshold		17,155	2,403	17	0	0	19,575
VALUE OF EXPORTS ($m)
$100m or more		0	(a)	1,293	8,501	73,839	83,633
$1m and less than $100m		345	498	2,534	6,728	21,805	31,910
$100,000 and less than $1m		232	286	897	1,376	235	3,026
$10,000 and less than $100,000		196	161	256	47	**	661
Less than $10,000		52	12	2	0	0	66
Other goods exporters(b)		. .	. .	. .	. .	. .	1,809
Total goods exporters		825	957	4,983	16,652	95,879	121,106
(a) To protect data confidentiality exporters with fewer than 11 Customs entries have been included in the category '11-20 Customs entries'.
(b) Includes some identified overseas entities with large exports; aircraft and ships fuel and stores used in transit.

		Exporters(a)	Customs entries		Total goods exports	Total goods exports
Industry of exporter		no.	no.		$m	%
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Agriculture		540	20,083		767	0.6
Services to agriculture; hunting and trapping		120	8,528		1,254	1.0
Forestry and logging		29	1,464		424	0.4
Commercial fishing		158	7,317		618	0.5
Total		847	37,392		3,063	2.5
Mining
Coal mining		49	4,252		11,307	9.3
Oil and gas extraction		32	2,530		5,449	4.5
Metal ore mining		64	17,153		14,612	12.1
Other mining		86	2,974		1,155	1.0
Services to mining		123	20,404		4,784	4.0
Total		354	47,313		37,307	30.8
Manufacturing
Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing		841	325,961		11,557	9.5
Textile, clothing, footwear and
leather manufacturing		706	41,124		1,617	1.3
Wood and paper product manufacturing		228	24,484		927	0.8
Printing, publishing and recorded media		444	18,305		314	0.3
Petroleum, coal, chemical and
associated product manufacturing		1,084	74,592		6,443	5.3
Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing		217	16,084		306	0.3
Metal product manufacturing		831	63,375		13,668	11.3
Machinery and equipment manufacturing		2,441	196,241		10,184	8.4
Other manufacturing		764	24,239		699	0.6
Total		7,556	784,405		45,717	37.7
Electricity, gas and water supply		49	1,404		241	0.2
Construction		638	12,832		294	0.2
Wholesale trade
Basic material wholesaling		1,255	84,567		16,317	13.5
Machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling		2,704	131,913		2,702	2.2
Personal and household good wholesaling		4,010	245,792		6,517	5.4
Total		7,969	462,272		25,536	21.1
Retail trade
Food retailing		191	8,149		103	0.1
Personal and household good retailing		1,678	59,899		884	0.7
Motor vehicle retailing and services		309	7,025		114	0.1
Total		2,178	75,073		1,100	0.9
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants		87	3,684		28	0.0
Transport and storage		932	41,897		2,008	1.7
Communication services		159	4,599		203	0.2
Finance and insurance		629	31,806		3,256	2.7
Property and business services		1,956	55,921		1,733	1.4
Government administration and defence		80	4,201		257	0.2
Education		89	1,564		14	0.0
Health and community services		139	3,500		62	0.1
Cultural and recreational services		275	5,170		76	0.1
Personal and other services		197	6,073		117	0.1
Other		35	1,686		91	0.1
Industry not known(b)		6,071	153,007		(b)	(b)
Total goods exporters		30,240	1,733,799		121,106	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.

		COMMODITY INDUSTRY OF ORIGIN
		Agriculture,				Total
Industry of exporter		forestry and fishing	Mining	Manufacturing	Other	goods exports
$ MILLION
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		1,706	n.p.	1,180	n.p.	3,063
Mining		0	28,612	8,648	46	37,307
Manufacturing		461	1,676	42,532	1,048	45,717
Wholesale trade		10,441	1,862	12,902	331	25,536
Finance and insurance		380	493	1,866	517	3,256
Property and business services		161	n.p.	1,282	n.p.	1,733
Other		268	193	3,640	392	4,493
Total goods exports		13,417	33,090	72,051	2,549	121,106
PERCENT
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		12.7	n.p.	1.6	n.p.	2.5
Mining		0.0	86.5	12.0	1.8	30.8
Manufacturing		3.4	5.1	59.0	41.1	37.7
Wholesale trade		77.8	5.6	17.9	13.0	21.1
Finance and insurance		2.8	1.5	2.6	20.3	2.7
Property and business services		1.2	n.p.	1.8	n.p.	1.4
Other		2.0	0.6	5.1	15.4	3.7
Total goods exports		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

• small businesses - having fewer than 20 employees and estimated annual turnover less than $1m and exports of less than $1m during 2001-02;

• large businesses - having 200 or more employees or estimated annual turnover of $20m or more or exports of $20m or more during 2001-02; and

• medium businesses - all businesses other than those defined as small or large.

		NUMBER OF EXPORTERS(a)					VALUE OF EXPORTS
		Large	Medium	Small	Total		Large	Medium	Small	Total
Industry of exporter		no.	no.	no.	no.		$m	$m	$m	$m
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		74	370	403	847		2,448	555	60	3,063
Mining		167	94	93	354		37,105	184	19	37,307
Manufacturing		1,328	4,106	2,122	7,556		41,943	3,528	247	45,717
Wholesale trade		985	4,243	2,741	7,969		21,604	3,552	380	25,536
Finance and insurance		90	166	373	629		2,837	366	54	3,256
Property and business services		189	778	989	1,956		1,010	593	130	1,733
Other		728	2,010	2,120	4,858		2,924	1,312	257	4,493
Industry not known		668	2,175	3,228	6,071		(b)	(b)	(b)	(b)
Total goods exporters		4,229	13,942	12,069	30,240		109,871	10,089	1,146	121,106
PERCENT
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		8.7	43.7	47.6	100.0		79.9	18.1	2.0	100.0
Mining		47.2	26.6	26.3	100.0		99.5	0.5	0.1	100.0
Manufacturing		17.6	54.3	28.1	100.0		91.7	7.7	0.5	100.0
Wholesale trade		12.4	53.2	34.4	100.0		84.6	13.9	1.5	100.0
Finance and insurance		14.3	26.4	59.3	100.0		87.1	11.2	1.6	100.0
Property and business services		9.7	39.8	50.6	100.0		58.3	34.2	7.5	100.0
Other		15.0	41.4	43.6	100.0		65.1	29.2	5.7	100.0
Industry not known		11.0	35.8	53.2	100.0		(b)	(b)	(b)	(b)
Total goods exporters		14.0	46.1	39.9	100.0		90.7	8.3	0.9	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.

		New South			South	Western		Northern		Total goods
		Wales	Victoria	Queensland	Australia	Australia	Tasmania	Territory	Re-exports	exports(b)
Industry of exporter		$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		792	329	717	402	254	375	n.p.	n.p.	3,063
Mining		3,858	936	11,400	1,392	16,281	909	2,180	350	37,307
Manufacturing		10,208	13,260	5,230	4,402	8,831	787	n.p.	n.p.	45,717
Wholesale trade		5,559	5,566	4,840	2,792	4,277	183	158	2,161	25,536
Finance and insurance		636	853	189	90	833	n.p.	n.p.	557	3,256
Property and business services		424	244	387	75	204	n.p.	n.p.	371	1,733
Other		866	651	590	112	596	45	21	1,612	4,493
Total goods exports		22,344	21,839	23,353	9,265	31,277	2,328	3,051	7,640	121,106
(a) State estimates in this table differ slightly from those published in the December 2002 issue of ABS publication International Merchandise Trade, Australia (cat. no. 5422.0) because the estimation system used to allocate data with no ABN ($2.4 billion) is based on industry not state.
(b) Includes exports from the Australian Capital Territory.

		Importers	Customs entries	Average entries	Total imports	Total goods imports
		no.	no.	no.	$m	%
Goods importers
$100m or more		163	1,384,619	8,495	56,309	47.1
$1m and less than $100m		8,029	3,300,705	411	56,325	47.1
$100,000 and less than $1m		16,864	703,902	42	5,765	4.8
$10,000 and less than $100,000		29,329	235,780	8	1,058	0.9
Other goods importers		. .	143,181	. .	193	0.2
Total goods importers		54,385	5,768,187	106	119,649	100.0
Service importers
Businesses importing services(a)		2,300	. .	. .	21,108	. .
Other service importers(b)		. .	. .	. .	10,934	. .
Total service importers		2,300	. .	. .	32,042	. .
Total importers(c)		55,355			151,691	. .
(a) Excludes services to Australian tourists, etc. overseas. See exclusions in the introduction of this article. (c) Travel service imports, i.e. to Australian tourists, etc. overseas. (d) Total excludes duplication from businesses which import both goods and services.

		Importers(a)	Customs entries		Total goods imports	Total goods imports
Industry of Importer		no.	no.		$m	%
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Agriculture		625	7,417		188	0.2
Services to agriculture; hunting and trapping		146	2,918		n.p.	n.p.
Forestry and logging		39	1,665		n.p.	n.p.
Commercial fishing		118	1,661		132	0.1
Total		928	13,661		455	0.4
Mining
Coal mining		16	138		n.p.	n.p.
Oil and gas extraction		35	7,684		n.p.	n.p.
Metal ore mining		51	2,182		637	0.5
Other mining		57	1,635		198	0.2
Services to mining		123	16,261		308	0.3
Total		282	27,900		4,407	3.7
Manufacturing
Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing		761	60,861		2,833	2.4
Textile, clothing, footwear and
leather manufacturing		1,246	118,956		1,968	1.6
Wood and paper product manufacturing		428	28,424		1,256	1.0
Printing, publishing and recorded media		673	51,595		1,269	1.1
Petroleum, coal, chemical and
associated product manufacturing		1,204	198,164		12,485	10.4
Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing		375	20,235		357	0.3
Metal product manufacturing		1,105	84,384		4,263	3.6
Machinery and equipment manufacturing		3,201	895,497		17,906	15.0
Other manufacturing		1,120	73,343		1,226	1.0
Total		10,113	1,531,459		43,563	36.4
Electricity, gas and water supply		104	3,091		132	0.1
Construction		1,232	46,584		1,061	0.9
Wholesale trade
Basic material wholesaling		2,126	257,740		8,097	6.8
Machinery and motor vehicle wholesaling		5,099	1,514,534		28,292	23.6
Personal and household good wholesaling		8,602	1,104,332		18,299	15.3
Total		15,827	2,876,606		54,687	45.7
Retail trade
Food retailing		373	36,209		468	0.4
Personal and household good retailing		5,734	596,453		5,560	4.6
Motor vehicle retailing and services		896	65,227		886	0.7
Total		7,003	697,889		6,914	5.8
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants		230	6,349		42	0.0
Transport and storage		717	64,254		2,943	2.5
Communication services		252	24,651		371	0.3
Finance and insurance		933	47,565		1,344	1.1
Property and business services		3,409	152,891		1,876	1.6
Government administration and defence		176	23,344		n.p.	n.p.
Education		173	8,834		50	0.0
Health and community services		386	11,441		171	0.1
Cultural and recreational services		619	14,860		207	0.2
Personal and other services		509	16,062		184	0.2
Other		54	1,744		n.p.	n.p.
Industry not known		11,438	199,002		(b)	(b)
Total goods importers		54,385	5,768,187		119,649	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 $1.2 billion. These imports were prorated across the industries that imported the same commodities.

		COMMODITY INDUSTRY OF ORIGIN
		Agriculture,				Total
Industry of importer		forestry and fishing	Mining	Manufacturing	Other	goods imports
$ MILLION
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		133	4	317	1	455
Mining		0	n.p.	2,251	n.p.	4,407
Manufacturing		156	n.p.	40,449	n.p.	43,563
Wholesale trade		354	n.p.	52,149	n.p.	54,687
Finance and insurance		36	2	1,296	10	1,344
Property and business services		13	1	1,852	9	1,876
Other		58	13	13,150	96	13,316
Total goods imports		750	7,259	111,464	176	119,649
PERCENT
Agriculture, forestry and fishing		17.7	0.1	0.3	0.7	0.4
Mining		0.0	n.p	2.0	n.p	3.7
Manufacturing		20.8	n.p	36.3	n.p	36.4
Wholesale trade		47.2	n.p	46.8	n.p	45.7
Finance and insurance		4.8	0.0	1.2	5.7	1.1
Property and business services		1.8	0.0	1.7	5.3	1.6
Other		7.7	0.2	11.8	54.5	11.1
Total goods imports		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

		VALUE OF IMPORTS
		$100m or	$1m and less	$100,000 and	$10,000 and less		Total goods
		more	than $100m	less than $1m	than $100,000	Other(a)	exporters
		n.o.	n.o.	n.o.	n.o.	n.o.	n.o.
Value of exports
$100m or more		30	61	19	14	85	209
$1m and less than $100m		107	1,591	615	374	1,500	4,187
$100,000 and less than $1m		14	2,114	1,621	1,034	4,419	9,202
$10,000 and less than $100,000		5	1,652	2,596	1,761	10,628	16,642
Other(b)		7	2,611	12,013	26,146	. .	. .
Total goods importers		163	8,029	16,864	29,329	. .	(c)
(a) Includes businesses whose imports are not known or valued at less than $10,000.
(b) Includes businesses whose exports are not known or valued at less than $10,000.
(c) Total goods exporters were 30,240 and total goods importers were 54,385.

The following symbols and abbreviations have been used in this article:
. .	not applicable
n.p.	not available for publication
**	Subject to sampling error too high for most practical purposes; relative standard error greater than 40%.

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