ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS
OVERVIEW
There were 44,310 Australian exporters in 2006-07. This is an increase from 2005-06 of 5%. Of the Australian exporters, 42,645 were exporters of merchandise goods, and 2,638 were exporters of services.
Of the businesses engaged in exporting services an estimated 973 (37%) were also exporters of merchandise goods.
The total count of all actively trading Australian businesses (whether exporting or not) can be obtained from Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (cat. no. 8165.0) scheduled for release in mid December 2007.
In 2006-07 there were 231 goods exporters with aggregate exports of '$100m or more' (an increase of 7% from 2005-06 to 2006-07). Although these businesses were less than 1% of the total goods exporter population they contributed 79% by value to total goods exports. This is an increase of 13% on the 2005-06 value for exporters with exports of '$100m or more'.
In contrast, 28,830 (68%) of goods exporters contributed less than 1% of value of total goods exports in 2006-07. Businesses exporting goods valued at '$10,000 and less than $100,000' represented 38% of goods exporters with businesses exporting goods valued at 'less than $10,000' representing 29% of goods exporters.
The number of services exporters in 2006-07 increased by 125 (5%) to 2,638, when compared to 2005-06. The increase in the number of exporters was most evident for businesses with services exports of '$1m and less than $100m', where the number of services exporters increased by 100 (12%) to 938.
The value of services exported in 2006-07 increased by $4,396m (11%) to $46,245m, when compared to 2005-06. The increase in the value of services exports was most evident for businesses with services exports of '$100m or more' which increased by $1,051m (12%) from 2005-06 to 2006-07, to $9,614m. During the same period services exports in the category '$1m and less than $100m' rose by $669m (9%) to $8,361m.
EXPORT ACTIVITY
(Table 2)
During 2006-07, 19,755 (46%) of goods exporters lodged 1 or 2 export transactions. The majority of these exporters (11,524) were businesses with aggregate exports of 'less than $10,000'. 31,214 (73%) of businesses exported on 10 or fewer occasions in 2006-07.
4,206 (10%) of goods exporters had 51 or more export transactions in 2006-07. In value terms, 172 of these exporters each recorded exports transactions over '$100m or more' totalling $116,669m. This represented 69% of the total value of goods exports in 2006-07.
INDUSTRY
(Tables 3 and 4)
Exporting businesses in the Mining (39%), Manufacturing (30%) and Wholesale trade (17%) industries were the most significant contributors to the total value of goods exports in 2006-07. These three industries accounted for $145b (86%) of the value of goods exports in 2006-07 compared to $136b (89%) in 2005-06.
The industries with the highest number of goods exporters in 2006-07 were Wholesale trade (11,877 or 28%) and Manufacturing (10,282 or 24%).
The largest growth in the number of exporters between 2005-06 and 2006-07 was in the Property and business services industry with an increase of 68 exporters. The Manufacturing industry had the largest decrease in the number of exporters (76) but increased the value of goods exported by 10% over this period.
The average value of exports per business in 2006-07 was $3.9m compared to $3.7m in 2005-06. In 2006-07, the Mining industry had the highest average value of aggregate exports ($134.4m per exporter), followed by the Manufacturing industry ($5.0m per exporter), Finance and insurance industry ($4.7m per exporter) and Wholesale trade industry ($2.5m per exporter). The lowest average value of aggregate exports per exporter occurred in the Health and community services and Cultural and recreational services industries, with $0.2m and $0.1m per business, respectively.
Comparing 2005-06 to 2006-07, the highest growth industry based on average value of exports per business was the Mining industry, with average exports increasing by $10.4m. The Finance and insurance industry increased average exports per exporter by $1.8m and Property and business services increased by $1.0m from 2005-06 to 2006-07.
Mining had the highest correlation (79%) between the industry that produced the commodity and the industry which exported the final product. In contrast, only 9% of Australia's agriculture, forestry and fishing commodity exports were exported by the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry.
Exports of goods originating from the Manufacturing industry were worth $94b in 2006-07, of which $48.9b (52%) were exported by the Manufacturing industry, $28.3b (30%) by 'Other' industries and $15.1b (16%) by the Mining industry.
BUSINESS SIZE
(Table 5)
There were 4,425 large goods exporting businesses in 2006-07 representing 10% of all goods exporting businesses with $155.9b of goods exports (or 93% of the value of total goods exports). The industries with the most large goods exporters were Manufacturing (1,380) and Wholesale trade (1,041). In terms of exports value, the Mining ($64.8b), Manufacturing ($46.9b) and Wholesale trade ($24.7b) industries were the most significant contributors to the large business category.
There were 21,665 medium goods exporting businesses in 2006-07 representing 51% of all goods exporting businesses with $11b (7%) of the value of total goods exports. The number of medium exporters increased by 29% from 2005-06, while the value contribution remained relatively unchanged. The industries with the most medium goods exporting businesses were Wholesale trade (6,930) and Manufacturing (5,930).
There were 16,555 small goods exporters in 2006-07 representing 39% of total goods exporters. In 2005-06 they represented 49% of total goods exporters. In 2006-07 they contributed $1.1b (1%) to the value of total goods exports.
The number of businesses in the small exporter category decreased by 3,343 (17%) from 2005-06 to 2006-07. This may have been impacted by two factors. First, the same sizing criteria has been applied to 2005-06 and 2006-07 (refer to paragraphs 22 to 24 in the Explanatory Notes), ie it has not been adjusted to reflect the impact of any increase in the price of exported goods. Second, as mentioned in Changes In This Issue, business characteristics obtained from the ABR have been updated for exporters in 2006-07.
STATE DATA
(Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9)
From 2005-06 to 2006-07, Victoria had the largest increase in number of exporters, increasing by 567 to 11,229, followed by New South Wales which increased exporters by 340 to 14,271, and South Australia by 176 to 2,385. However, in percentage terms, Tasmania (10%) had the highest growth in the number of exporters, followed by South Australia (8%) and Victoria (5%).
Over half the businesses exporting goods originating in either the Northern Territory or Tasmania had no presence in that state. By contrast, 75% or more of the businesses exporting goods originating in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia had a business location in that particular state.
36% of Australia's total value of goods exports in 2006-07 came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland (21%), New South Wales (17%) and Victoria (12%).
Western Australia ($32.8b) and Queensland ($18.9b) have combined mining exports of $51.7b, representing 79% of total exports by the exporters in the Mining industry in 2006-07.
Western Australia ($13.6b) and New South Wales ($13.4b) have combined Manufacturing industry exports of $27b, contributing 53% of total exports by exporters in the Manufacturing industry.
Of the small goods exporting businesses with an ABN, 37% had their main state of business operations in New South Wales, 27% in Victoria, 18% in Queensland, 10% in Western Australia, 6% in South Australia and 1% in Tasmania.
The industry with the highest number of small goods exporters in 2006-07 was Wholesale trade with 3,906 (down by 1,283 from 2005-06).
In relation to the number of small goods exporters, New South Wales had the largest decrease between 2005-06 and 2006-07, declining by 1,321, followed by Victoria (923) and Queensland (781).
SERVICES EXPORTERS
(Table 10)
The number of businesses exporting Other business services increased by 311 (18%) and the number of businesses exporting Communications services increased by 277 (58%) when compared to 2005-06. The number of businesses exporting Personal, cultural and recreational services fell by 263 (38%), Construction services fell by 119 (46%) and Transportation services fell by 11 (13%) during the same period.
The value of Other business services and Computer and information services exported increased during the year by $1,049m (22%) and $282m (24%), respectively. The value of Personal, cultural and recreational services exported decreased by $46m (7%).
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