5368.0.55.006 - Characteristics of Australian Exporters, 2007-08  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 26/03/2009   
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS


OVERVIEW

There were 45,018 Australian exporters in 2007-08. This is a 1% increase from 2006-07. Of the Australian exporters, 43,098 were exporters of merchandise goods and 2,927 were exporters of services.

Of the businesses engaged in exporting services an estimated 1,007 (34%) were also exporters of merchandise goods.

The total count of all actively trading 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 April 2009.

The value of total goods and services exports grew 8% from 2006-07 to 2007-08. Goods exports increased by 8% and services by 11%. This continued growth from 2005-06 to 2006-07 when total goods and services exports increased by 10%.

The average exchange rate for 2007-08 was higher than in either of the previous two financial years. The average Trade weighted index for 2007-08 was 69.7 compared to 64.8 for 2006-07 and 63.3 for 2005-06. During 2007-08 the majority of Australia's exports were traded using United States Dollars (77%). The average $US exchange rate over 2007-08 was 0.90 against the $AUS compared to 0.79 over 2006-07.

In 2007-08 there were 234 goods exporters with aggregate goods exports of '$100m or more' (an increase of 1% from 2006-07, compared to an increase of 7% from 2005-06 to 2006-07). Although these businesses represented less than 1% of the total goods exporter population they contributed 79% by value to total goods exports. The value of goods exported by these exporters increased by 8% on 2006-07, but the percentage contribution to total goods exports did not change.

In contrast, the 28,981 (67%) goods exporters that had exports of 'less than $100,000' contributed less than 1% of the value of total goods exports in 2007-08. Businesses with aggregate goods exports of '$10,000 and less than $100,000' represented 38% of goods exporters and businesses exporting goods valued at 'less than $10,000' represented 29% of goods exporters.

The number of services exporters in 2007-08 increased by 60 (2%) to 2,927, when compared to 2006-07. The increase in the number of exporters was most evident for businesses with services exports of 'less than $1m', where the number of services exporters increased by 73 (4%) to 1,968.

The value of services exported in 2007-08 increased by $5,164m (11%) to $51,345m, when compared to 2006-07. The increase in the value of services exporters was most evident for the Other services exporters category which increased by $3,321m (12%) from 2006-07, to $31,038m. This category includes service types for which the number of exporters can not be estimated. During the same period, the value of services exports in the category '$100m or more' rose by $1,809m (19%) to $11,465m.


EXPORT ACTIVITY

(Table 2)

During 2007-08, 19,892 (46%) of goods exporters lodged only 1 or 2 export transactions. The majority of these exporters (11,589) were businesses with aggregate exports of 'less than $10,000'. 11,582 (27%) businesses exported on between 3 and 10 occasions in 2007-08.


INDUSTRY

(Tables 3 and 4)

Exporting businesses in the Mining (40%), Manufacturing (29%) and Wholesale trade (17%) industries were the most significant contributors to the total value of goods exports in 2007-08. These three industries accounted for $156b (86%) of the value of goods exports in 2007-08 compared to $146b (87%) in 2006-07.

The industries with the highest number of goods exporters in 2007-08 were Wholesale trade (12,203 or 28%) and Manufacturing (10,334 or 24%).

The largest growth in the number of exporters between 2006-07 and 2007-08 was in the Other category with an increase of 658 exporters. The wholesale trade industry had the largest decrease in the number of exporters (167) closely followed by the Manufacturing industry down (159). The most significant increase in the value of goods exported over this period was in the Mining industry, which rose by 11% to $72,266m.

The average value of exports per business in 2007-08 was $4.2m compared to $3.9m in 2006-07. In 2007-08, the Mining industry had the highest average value of aggregate exports ($134m per exporter), followed by the Finance and insurance industry ($7m per exporter) and the Manufacturing industry ($5m per exporter). The lowest average value of aggregate exports per exporter occurred in the Cultural and recreational services and Health and community services industries both with $0.2m per business.

Comparing 2006-07 to 2007-08, the highest growth industry based on average value of exports per business was the Mining industry, with average exports increasing by $2.1m. The Finance and insurance industry increased average exports per exporter by $1.9m and Other increased by $1.1m.

Mining had the highest correlation (79%) between the industry that produced the commodity and the industry which exported the final product. In contrast, only 7% of Australia's agriculture, forestry and fishing commodity exports were exported by the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry.


BUSINESS SIZE

(Table 5)

There were 4,411 large goods exporting businesses in 2007-08 representing 10% of all goods exporting businesses. These businesses exported goods worth $168b or 93% of all exports. See paragraphs 23-25 of the Explanatory Notes for a definition of business size. The industry with the highest percentage of large businesses was Mining (39%). The 208 large Mining businesses represented less than half a percent of all goods exporting businesses but were responsible for 40% of the total value of goods exports. The industries with the largest number of large businesses were Manufacturing (1,311 goods exporters with $49b of exports) and Wholesale trade (1,025 goods exporters with $26b of goods exports).

50% of goods exporters in 2007-08 were medium sized, the same proportion as in 2006-07. These businesses exported 6% of the total value of exports. The Finance and insurance, Manufacturing and Wholesale trade industries had the highest proportion of medium sized businesses. The Construction and Retail trade industries had the highest proportion of their industry's value of exports exported by medium sized businesses. The Wholesale trade and Manufacturing industries had the highest value of goods exports by medium sized businesses.

Small businesses made up 39% of goods exporters by number and contributed 1% of the total value of goods exports. This contribution was the same as recorded in 2006-07. Businesses without an ABN were most likely to be small businesses (99%) but caution should be taken in interpreting this as no number of payee or GST turnover data is available for these businesses. For businesses with an ABN, the highest proportion of small businesses were in the Retail trade and Property and business services industries. Small businesses in the Wholesale trade, Manufacturing and Property and business services industries had the largest value of goods exports.


STATE DATA

(Tables 6, 7 and 8)

39% of Australia's total value of goods exports in 2007-08 came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland (20%), New South Wales (17%) and Victoria (11%).

Western Australia ($39b) and Queensland ($19b) have combined mining exports of $58b, representing 80% of total exports by the exporters in the Mining industry in 2007-08.

Western Australia ($15b) and New South Wales ($13b) have combined Manufacturing industry exports of $28b, contributing 54% of total exports by exporters in the Manufacturing industry.


SMALL GOODS EXPORTERS

(Table 9)

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, 9% in Western Australia, 6% in South Australia and 1% in Tasmania.

The industry with the highest number of small goods exporters in 2007-08 was Wholesale Trade with 4,271 (up by 124 from 2006-07).

New South Wales had the largest increase in the number of small goods exporters between 2006-07 and 2007-08, rising by 182, followed by Victoria (113) and Queensland (64).


SERVICES EXPORTERS

(Table 10)

The number of businesses exporting Other business services increased by 265 (13%) and the number of businesses exporting Computer and information services increased by 39 (4%) when compared to 2006-07. The number of businesses exporting Personal, cultural and recreational services fell by 266 (40%) and Royalties and license fees fell by 109 (9%) during the same period.

The value of Travel services, Other business services and Transportation services exported increased during the year by $3,271m (13%), $1,057m (18%) and $788m (9%), respectively. The value of Royalties and licence fees decreased by $120m (14%).