OCTOBER KEY FIGURES

		August 2008	September 2008	October 2008	Sep 08 to Oct 08
		$m	$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES
	Trend estimates	1 007	1 433	1 858	30
	Seasonally adjusted	1 327	1 254	2 952	135
CREDITS (Exports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	25 116	25 996	26 828	3
	Seasonally adjusted	24 773	26 378	28 141	7
DEBITS (Imports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	24 109	24 564	24 970	2
	Seasonally adjusted	23 447	25 123	25 189	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Balance on Goods and Services

OCTOBER KEY POINTS


BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES

• The trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $1,858m in October 2008, an increase of $425m on a revised surplus in September 2008.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $2,952m in October 2008, an increase of $1,698m on a revised surplus in September 2008.
• The seasonally adjusted surplus was primarily due to the strong rise in goods and services credits, mainly in non rural and other goods.

CREDITS (EXPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• Seasonally adjusted, goods and services credits rose $1,763m (7%) to $28,141m. Non-rural goods rose $1,134m (6%), rural goods rose $296m (13%) and other goods rose $291m (19%). Services credits rose $44m (1%).
• The rise in non-rural goods was largely driven by the coal, coke and briquettes component, which rose $1,056m (20%).

DEBITS (IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• Seasonally adjusted, goods and services debits rose $66m to $25,189m. Consumption goods rose $153m (3%), intermediate and other merchandise goods rose $117m (1%) while other goods fell $165m (13%) and capital goods fell $97m (2%). Services debits rose $56m (1%).
• The consumption goods component with the largest increase was textiles, clothing and footwear, which rose $74m (12%). The rise in intermediate and other merchandise goods was driven by the fuels and lubricants component, which rose $187m (6%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
November 2008	8 January 2009
December 2008	3 February 2009
January 2009	5 March 2009
February 2009	2 April 2009
March 2009	6 May 2009
April 2009	4 June 2009

The release date of the March 2009 issue has been brought forward to 6 May from 7 May. This will avoid the release occurring on the same day as the April 2009 issue of Labour Force, Australia (6202.0).



REVISIONS

Revisions were made to the previous six months to incorporate the latest available data relating to merchandise trade data. There were no other revisions to the balance of payments series in original terms. However, the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates have been revised due to the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment (see paragraph 8 in the Explanatory Notes).

The October 2008 issue of International Merchandise Imports, Australia (cat. no. 5439.0) announced that the preliminary seasonally adjusted outcome for goods debits was an increase of $109m (1%) between September and October 2008. The estimates released in this issue show a $9m increase. The $100m difference results from further quality assurance of the balance of payments series for October.


INFORMATION PAPER

An information paper Changes to International Trade in Goods Industry Statistics, July 2009 (cat. no. 5368.0.55.011) is scheduled for release on 18 December 2008 and will be accessible on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au>. The paper briefly advises the timing and implications of the introduction of Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC06) in International Trade time series. The paper also describes arrangements for electronically accessing ANZSIC06 and related correspondences.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for goods, and Karen McGuigan on Canberra (02) 6252 5415 for services.