1350.0 - Australian Economic Indicators, Jan 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/01/2004   
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Feature Article - Australia's Exporters, 2002-03



INTRODUCTION

This is the third of a series of articles analysing the characteristics and international trading activities of Australia's exporters, based on the Australian Business Number (ABN). The earlier articles related to analyses for the July to December 2001 and 2001-02 reference periods respectively and covered both exporters and importers. Information on importers for 2002-03 will be included in a future article.

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

The estimates are subject to limitations in terms of the data available and methodology applied:

      a. In 2002-03 88% of export entries had an ABN reported to Customs, accounting for 91% of the value of merchandise exports. The ABS used name information provided to Customs to clerically improve the identification of ABNs. The final proportion of the value of exports with an ABN was 97% (96% in 2001-02). To estimate the number of businesses accounting for the remaining exports, the ABS followed the methodology outlined in the Appendix to the article 'Experimental Estimates on Australia's Exporters and Importers' (available on the ABS web site).

      b. consistent with previous studies, businesses which exported goods totalling less than $10,000 in 2002-03 are excluded from the estimates of number of exporters;

      c. service exporters include businesses which provide services from their Australian base to 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 are unlikely to come to ABS notice and are therefore not included in the estimates. The number of excluded businesses may be significant, but the value of their exports is not thought to be appreciable in the totality of service exports. The ABS continues to try to identify these businesses and incorporate them into its surveys;


      d. the numbers of service exporters excludes businesses that only supply insurance, financial, government or travel services, as estimates for these service types are not derived from the SITS. Travel services are the supply of goods or services to foreign tourists or students in Australia (supply mode 2), such as hotels, restaurants, retail, tourist facilities, transport, theatres, educational institutions, etc. The estimates also exclude 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), because their trade does not directly contribute to Australia's exports of goods and services;

      e. Australian businesses which supply goods or services to other businesses which undertake the exporting function are excluded. 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.

As the analysis has been undertaken on exports data extracted from earlier publication cycles, the value of exports of goods and services shown in the tables in this article are not consistent with that shown in the October 2003 issue of International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (Cat. no. 5368.0). In addition, the value of goods exports is on a merchandise trade basis, while the value of service exports is on a balance of payments basis. This has no effect on the estimates of the number of exporters and minimal effect on the analysis of export values.


NUMBER OF EXPORTERS

The number of exporters in 2002-03 was estimated to be 31,174, as shown in Table F1. This was 276 fewer than the estimate for 2001-02 of 31,450 exporters. In the same period, the total value of exports of goods and services fell by $5.3b to $148.0b, with all of the fall due to a decline in the value of goods exports.

The number of goods exporters was estimated to be 29,876 in 2002-03, a decrease of 364. The number of service exporters rose by 56 to 2,306. Of the businesses engaged in service exports, 44% (1,008 ) were also goods exporters. By eliminating the duplication, the total number of exporters was derived at 31,174 (29,876 plus 2,306 less 1,008).

TABLE F1: EXPORTERS

EXPORTERS
TOTAL EXPORTS


2001-02
2002-03
2001-02
2002-03
2002-03
no.
no.
$m
$m
%

Goods exporters
$100m or more
209
194
83,633
77,058
66.7
$1m and less than $100m
4,187
4,159
31,910
33,162
28.7
$100,000 and less than $1m
9,202
9,535
3,026
3,106
2.7
$10,000 and less than $100,000
16,642
15,988
661
608
0.5
Other goods exporters(a)
. .
. .
1,876
1,515
1.3
Total goods exporters
30,240
29,876
121,106
115,450
100.0
Service exporters
Businesses exporting services
$100m or more
n.a.
20
n.a.
7,291
22.4
$1m and less than $100m
n.a.
712
n.a.
6,790
20.8
Less than $1m
n.a.
1,574
n.a.
577
1.8
Total
2,250
2,306
14,178
14,658
45.0
Other service exporters(b)
. .
. .
18,072
17,911
55.0
Total service exporters
2,250
2,306
32,250
32,569
100.0
Total exporters (c)
31,450
31,174
153,356
148,019
. .

(a) Includes some identified overseas entities with large exports; aircraft and ships fuel used in transit; exporters less than $10,000 (estimated at $56m).
(b) Includes travel, insurance, financial and government services. Numbers of exporters cannot be estimated for these service types, as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to measure these exports.
(c) Total excludes duplication from businesses which export both goods and services.


For comparison purposes, the number of goods importers in 2002-03 was estimated to be 57,313, up 2,928 on the estimate of 54,385 importers in 2001-02. Further information on importers will be provided in an upcoming feature article.


GOODS EXPORTERS

Export activity

As shown in Table F1, Australia's goods exports were dominated by a relatively small number of exporters. In 2002-03, there were 194 businesses with goods exports of $100m or more, accounting for two-thirds of the value of goods exports. In total, 4,353 businesses had exports valued at $1m or more, down marginally on 2001-02. In both years, these exporters accounted for 95% of the total value of goods exports.

There was an increase in the number of businesses that exported between $100,000 and $1m of goods, up 333 to 9,535. Over half of the goods exporters in both 2001-02 and 2002-03 had total exports valued between $10,000 and $100,000. In 2002-03, there were 15,988 exporters in this category, 654 fewer than in 2001-02. These businesses represented just 0.5% of the value of goods exports in each year.

Three quarters (22,340) of the goods exporters in 2002-03 also exported goods in 2001-02. There were 7,900 businesses that exported goods in 2001-02, but did not export any goods in 2002-03. Over 7,500 businesses exported goods in 2002-03, but not in 2001-02. Further analysis of goods exporters also indicated that 1,980 businesses only re-exported goods in 2002-03 (up from 1,200 in 2001-02). Re-exports are goods that are imported and then exported in the same condition or after undergoing repair or minor alterations which leave them essentially unchanged. Minor alterations include blending, packaging and cleaning.


As shown in Table F2, 25% (7,534) of Australia's goods exporters exported only once or twice in 2002-03. This was an increase from 20% (6,442) in 2001-02. The majority of these businesses (6,603) had exports worth less than $100,000.

TABLE F2: EXPORTS OF GOODS, VALUE OF EXPORTS BY NUMBER OF CUSTOMS ENTRIES -- 2002-03

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)
4
22
168
194
$1m and less than $100m
68
*331
219
670
2,871
4,159
$100,000 and less than $1m
863
2,691
2,128
2,848
1,006
9,535
$10,000 and less than $100,000
6,603
8,042
1,095
226
21
15,988
Total goods exporters
7,534
11,064
3,446
3,766
4,067
29,876
Exporters below $10,000 threshold
10,451
911
*30
2
0
11,394

VALUE OF EXPORTS ($m)

$100m or more
0
(a)
572
4,021
72,465
77,058
$1m and less than $100m
427
1,950
1,214
3,656
25,915
33,162
$100,000 and less than $1m
208
697
562
1,097
542
3,106
$10,000 and less than $100,000
197
319
75
*15
2
608
Less than $10,000
50
6
0
0
0
56
Other goods exporters(b)
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
1,458
Total goods exporters
882
2,972
2,424
8,790
98,923
115,450

(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 used in transit.
* Estimate has a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.


Industry

The exporting business which is the subject of this analysis is the owner of the good at the time of export and not necessarily the producer of the good. The most significant exporting industries (of the owning business) were manufacturing (40% of the value of goods exports), mining (31%) and wholesale trade (20%), as shown in Table F3.


These three industries accounted for $104.3b (90%) of goods exported from Australia in 2002-03. The low value for agriculture, forestry and fishing reflects that most exports of agricultural commodities are made by commodity marketing authorities, which are classified as wholesalers. Falls in exports of agricultural commodities due to the drought were the major reason for the $3.0b fall in exports by the wholesaling industry in 2002-03.

The industries with the highest number of goods exporters in the past two years were wholesale trade (9,376 in 2002-03) and manufacturing (9,148 in 2002-03). The manufacturing industry was one of the few industries to record an increase in the number of exporters in 2002-03, up almost 300 compared with 2001-02.

The average value of exports per business in 2002-03 was $5.0m for the manufacturing industry and $2.4m for the wholesaling industry. The industry with the highest average value of exports per business was the mining industry. Its 441 exporters averaged $82m worth of exports each in 2002-03, up from $75m in 2001-02.

TABLE F3: EXPORTS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER

EXPORTERS(a)
TOTAL GOODS EXPORTS(b)


2001-02
2002-03
2001-02
2002-03
2002-03
Industry of exporter
no.
no.
$m
$m
%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
922
938
3,063
2,403
2.1
Mining
497
441
37,307
36,219
31.4
Manufacturing
8,850
9,148
45,717
45,590
39.5
Electricity, gas and water supply
81
50
241
267
0.2
Construction
866
821
294
377
0.3
Wholesale trade
9,667
9,376
25,536
22,538
19.5
Retail trade
3,034
2,853
1,100
1,089
0.9
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
118
*111
28
19
0.0
Transport and storage
1,159
1,022
2,008
1,849
1.6
Communication services
306
170
203
142
0.1
Finance and insurance
941
873
3,256
2,470
2.1
Property and business services
2,615
2,825
1,733
1,949
1.7
Government administration and defence
83
*132
257
178
0.2
Education
160
81
14
11
0.0
Health and community services
211
235
62
60
0.1
Cultural and recreational services
384
395
76
79
0.1
Personal and other services
286
*340
117
121
0.1
Other
62
66
91
89
0.1
Total goods exporters
30,240
29,876
121,106
115,450
100.0

(a) Includes only those businesses that exported at least $10,000 of goods.
(b) Exports with no ABN reported (valued at $3.1b) were prorated across the industries that exported the same commodities. This includes $1.5b of exports by identified overseas entities with large exports, aircraft and ships fuel used in transit and exporters with less than $10,000 exports.
* Estimate has a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

Table F4 compares the industry of the exporting business with the industry of origin of the commodity exported. This shows that mining commodities had the highest proportion of exports (87%) by the industry that generally produced them i.e. the mining industry. By comparison, only 12% of Australia's $10.9b of agricultural, forestry and fishing commodity exports were exported by the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Most were exported by wholesalers (79%).

Exports of manufactured goods were $69.6b, of which $41.6b (60%) were exported by the manufacturing industry, $11.9b (17%) by the wholesale trade industry, and $8.3b (12%) by the mining industry. The manufactured goods exported by the mining industry were generally semi-processed materials (e.g. alumina).

TABLE F4: EXPORTS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER BY COMMODITY INDUSTRY OF ORIGIN -- 2002-03

COMMODITY INDUSTRY OF ORIGIN

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

$ MILLION

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
1,293
1
1,105
4
2,403
Mining
1
27,846
8,305
67
36,219
Manufacturing
420
n.p.
41,593
n.p.
45,590
Wholesale trade
8,533
1,694
11,929
382
22,538
Finance and insurance
257
n.p.
1,705
n.p.
2,470
Property and business services
142
256
1,491
61
1,949
Other
218
258
3,493
312
4,281
Total goods exports
10,862
31,951
69,622
3,014
115,450

PERCENT

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
11.9
0.0
1.6
0.1
2.1
Mining
0.0
87.2
11.9
2.2
31.4
Manufacturing
3.9
n.p.
59.7
n.p.
39.5
Wholesale trade
78.6
5.3
17.1
12.7
19.5
Finance and insurance
2.4
n.p.
2.4
n.p.
2.1
Property and business services
1.3
0.8
2.1
2.0
1.7
Other
2.0
0.8
5.0
10.4
3.7
Total goods exports
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0



Size of Business

Two different size measures are used for goods exporters in this article. They are the value of exports (see Table F1) and size of the business (Table F5). Traditionally, the ABS has only used employment to determine the size of a business, because this has been the only sizing variable generally available. Many significant exporters were found not to have large employment.


For the purpose of this analysis, the size of a business has been defined in terms of three variables - employment, estimated annual turnover (both derived from Australian Taxation Office information) and value of exports (from Customs):
    • small businesses - having fewer than 20 employees and estimated annual turnover less than $1m and exports of less than $1m during 2002-03;
    • large businesses - having 200 or more employees or estimated annual turnover of $20m or more or exports of $20m or more during 2002-03; and
    • medium businesses - all businesses other than those defined as small or large.
There were 3,839 large goods exporters in 2002-03, accounting for $104.5b (91%) of goods exports. The mining industry was most dominated by large businesses, accounting for over 99% of exports and 45% of exporters in that industry.

The 13,676 medium sized exporters accounted for $9.8b (9%) of goods exports. They were most prevalent in the manufacturing and wholesale trade industries, accounting for over half of the exporters in each. Over 40% (12,362) of Australia's goods exporters were small businesses. They contributed $1.1b (1%) to Australia's total goods exports.

TABLE F5: EXPORTS OF GOODS, SIZE OF BUSINESS BY INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER -- 2002-03

NUMBER OF EXPORTERS(a)
VALUE OF EXPORTS


Large
Medium
Small
Total(b)
Large
Medium
Small
Total
Industry of exporter
no.
no.
no.
no.
$m
$m
$m
$m

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
71
376
369
816
1,784
561
58
2,403
Mining
162
93
107
362
36,034
167
17
36,219
Manufacturing
1306
4125
2137
7,568
41,692
3,640
257
45,590
Wholesale trade
973
4240
2853
8,066
18,683
3,479
376
22,538
Finance and insurance
94
128
317
539
2,126
297
46
2,470
Property and business services
197
777
1029
2,003
1,324
499
126
1,949
Other
703
1,925
2,038
4,666
2,876
1,169
237
4,281
Industry not known
333
2,012
3,512
5,856
(c)
(c)
(c)
(c)
Total goods exporters
3,839
13,676
12,362
29,876
104,520
9,813
1,117
115,450

PERCENT

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
8.7
46.1
45.2
100.0
74.2
23.4
2.4
100.0
Mining
44.8
25.7
29.6
100.0
99.5
0.5
0.0
100.0
Manufacturing
17.3
54.5
28.2
100.0
91.5
8.0
0.6
100.0
Wholesale trade
12.1
52.6
35.4
100.0
82.9
15.4
1.7
100.0
Finance and insurance
17.4
23.7
58.8
100.0
86.1
12.0
1.9
100.0
Property and business services
9.8
38.8
51.4
100.0
67.9
25.6
6.5
100.0
Other
15.1
41.3
43.7
100.0
67.2
27.3
5.5
100.0
Industry not known
5.7
34.4
60.0
100.0
(c)
(c)
(c)
(c)
Total goods exporters
12.8
45.8
41.4
100.0
90.5
8.5
1.0
100.0

(a) Includes only those businesses that exported at least $10,000 of goods.
(b) The industry estimates of number of exporters differ from that reported in Table F3 because they do not include the estimated 5,856 exporters that reported no ABN. These are listed as 'Industry not known' in this table.
(c) Exports with no ABN reported (valued at $3.1b) were prorated across the industries that exported the same commodities. This includes $1.5b of exports by identified overseas entities with large exports, aircraft and ships fuel used in transit and exporters with less than $10,000 exports.


State estimates

Two different concepts are used to measure the number of goods exporters by state in this article. In the 2001-02 analysis, estimates were provided of the number of businesses that exported goods that were produced in a given state i.e. the state of origin of the goods. In this article estimates are also provided of the number of businesses that exported goods that were produced in a given state and had a business location in that state i.e. the state of location of the business. Both sets of estimates are shown in Table F6.

As a number of businesses source exports from more than one state of origin, and may have more than one state of location, the state figures sum to more than the Australian totals i.e. the Australian figures count businesses with more than one state of origin or state of location once only.

The state of location estimates possibly understate the number of exporters with operations in some states. They have been derived using four variables - postcode of the ABN, multi-state location indicator, industry (all from the ATO business registers) and value of exports (from Customs). An exporter has been defined as having locations in the state of origin if:
    • the postcode of the exporter is the same as the state of origin; or
    • the exporter has multi-state locations that include the state of origin; or
    • the exporter was in the manufacturing or mining industry and reported $1m or more in goods exports from the state of origin.
The postcode often relates to the head office of the business. The multi-state location indicator does not always list all states in which the business operates. For this reason, the extra criterion based on the value of exports and industry was added, as analysis of individual businesses indicated that when the value of exports was large, particularly in the mining and manufacturing industries, the business tended to have operations in that state.

These weaknesses in the data sources are expected to impact more on the state of location estimates for the smaller states than the larger states, where many head offices of multi-state businesses are located. Some businesses also have difficulty in identifying the state of production of some of their exports. This may disproportionately impact on the estimates for the smaller states.

The larger states had the highest proportion of exporters with locations in the state of origin. Over 70% of businesses with exports originating from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia were identified as having business locations in those states. Less than 50% of businesses with exports originating from Tasmania or the Northern Territory were identified as having business locations in those states. Most exporters with no locations identified in the state of origin of the goods were wholesalers.

From each state of origin, over 90% of the value of goods exports was by businesses with locations in the state of origin.

TABLE F6: EXPORTS OF GOODS, STATE ESTIMATES -- 2002-03

EXPORTERS(a)
VALUE OF EXPORTS


Location
No locations
Location
No locations
in state
in state
in state
in state
of origin
of origin
Total
of origin
of origin
Total(b)
State of origin
no.
no.
no.
$m
$m
$m

New South Wales
10,297
2,498
12,794
18,736
758
19,494
Victoria
8,125
2,870
10,995
17,296
1,286
18,582
Queensland
5,141
1,936
7,077
19,764
1,621
21,385
South Australia
1,867
1,057
2,924
7,699
697
8,397
Western Australia
3,005
937
3,942
31,195
1,269
32,464
Tasmania
257
376
633
2,226
174
2,400
Northern Territory
129
138
268
2,637
85
2,722
Re-exports
. .
. .
13,697
. .
. .
8,489
Other exporters(c)
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
1,518
Total goods exporters(d)
. .
. .
29,876
99,552
5,891
115,450

(a) Includes only those businesses that exported at least $10,000 of goods.
(b) The total value of exports by state of origin differs in Tables F6 and F7 because in Table F6 exports by 'Other exporters' are separately identified whereas in Table F7 they were prorated across the industries that exported the same commodities.
(c) Includes some identified overseas entities with large exports; aircraft and ships fuel used in transit; exporters less than $10,000; and exports from the Australian Capital Territory.
(d) Businesses may export goods from more than one state.
Almost 30% of Australia's goods exports came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland with 19%, as shown in Table F7. These two States accounted for 76% ($27.7b) of exports by the mining industry. New South Wales and Victoria each accounted for around 17% of Australia's exports, the highest proportion of which were by the manufacturing industry.

TABLE F7: EXPORTS OF GOODS, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER BY STATE OF ORIGIN OF COMMODITY -- 2002-03

New
Total
South
Queens-
South
Western
Northern
goods
Wales
Victoria
land
Australia
Australia
Tasmania
Territory
Re-exports
exports(a)
Industry of exporter
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m
$m

Agriculture, forestry and fishing
405
190
538
334
303
424
193
16
2,403
Mining
3,608
219
10,781
1,412
16,898
884
2,055
361
36,219
Manufacturing
9,626
12,773
4,855
4,258
9,397
858
n.p.
n.p.
45,590
Wholesale trade
4,416
4,372
4,425
2,244
4,377
206
165
2,332
22,538
Finance and insurance
391
386
179
88
1,065
14
n.p.
n.p.
2,470
Property and business services
374
239
324
65
394
16
1
536
1,949
Other
717
597
563
133
637
31
9
1,592
4,281
Total goods exports(b)
19,538
18,776
21,666
8,534
33,073
2,435
2,722
8,702
115,450

(a) Includes exports from the Australian Capital Territory.
(b) The total value of exports by state of origin differs in Tables F6 and F7 because in Table F6 exports by 'Other exporters' are separately identified whereas in Table F7 they were prorated across the industries that exported the same commodities.


Goods exporters and importers

Table F8 shows that of the 29,876 businesses with goods exports worth $10,000 or more during 2002-03, 14,046 (47%) also imported goods valued at $10,000 or more. Of the 4,353 businesses with goods exports of $1m or more, over 40% (1,778) also imported goods valued at $1m or more in 2002-03. Businesses with exports valued between $10,000 and $100,000 were the least likely to have also imported goods. 6,262 (39%) of these imported goods worth $10,000 or more in 2002-03.

TABLE F8: GOODS EXPORTERS AND IMPORTERS -- 2002-03

VALUE OF IMPORTS

$100m
$1m and
$100,000
$10,000 and
Total
or
less than
and less
less than
goods
more
$100m
than $1m
$100,000
Other(a)
exporters
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.

Value of exports
    $100m or more
27
54
20
9
84
194
    $1m and less than $100m
123
1,574
644
412
1,406
4,159
    $100,000 and less than $1m
18
2,226
1,627
1,050
4,614
9,535
    $10,000 and less than $100,000
7
1,714
2,640
1,901
9,726
15,988
    Other(b)
7
2,854
12,890
27,516
. .
. .
Total goods importers
182
8,422
17,821
30,888
. .
(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 29,876 and total goods importers were 57,313.



SERVICE EXPORTERS

Value of exports

As outlined in the Introduction, businesses providing insurance, financial, government or travel services are not included in the estimates of number of service exporters, unless they are in scope of the Survey of International Trade in Services for other reasons. As shown in Table F1, businesses exporting services were dominated by a small number of exporters, with just 20 businesses accounting for 22% of Australia's total service exports in 2002-03.

31% of service exporters had exports worth between $1m and $100m, accounting for 21% ($6.8b) of total service exports. More than two-thirds (1,574) of businesses had service exports worth less than $1m. These accounted for $577m (2%) of services exports with average exports of $366,600 per business.

Service type

The service types with the highest numbers of exporters in 2002-03 were Other business services (1,837), Royalties and licence fees (1,240) and Computer and information services (1,052), as shown in Table F9. Transportation services had the highest value of exports per business, averaging $84m per exporter in 2002-03.

TABLE F9: EXPORTS OF SERVICES, TYPE OF SERVICE -- 2002-03

Average service
Total service
Total service
exports per
Exporters(a)
exports
exports
business
Type of service
no.
$m
%
$m

Transportation services
89
7,467
22.9
83.9
Travel services
(b)
15,452
47.4
(b)
Communication services
779
1,083
3.3
1.4
Construction services
186
85
0.3
0.5
Insurance services
(b)
673
2.1
(b)
Financial services
(b)
984
3.0
(b)
Computer and information services
1,052
1,091
3.3
1.0
Royalties and licence fees
1,240
618
1.9
0.5
Other business services
1,837
3,704
11.4
2.0
Personal, cultural and recreational services
772
610
1.9
0.8
Government services n.i.e.
(b)
802
2.5
(b)
Total services exporters
2,306
32,569
100.0
. .

(a) Businesses may export more than one type of service.
(b) Number of exporters cannot be estimated as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to measure exports of this service type.
Industry

As shown in Table F10, the industries with the largest number of service exporters included in the overall estimate in 2002-03 were the property and business services industries (872 service exporters) and manufacturing industry (428 service exporters). Service exporters in both these industries averaged between $2m and $3m of service exports per business. The businesses with the highest average value of service exports were the transport and storage ($57m) and communication services ($22m) industries.

TABLE F10: EXPORTS OF SERVICES, INDUSTRY OF EXPORTER -- 2002-03

Average service
Total services
Total services
exports per
Exporters
exports
exports
business
Industry of exporter
no.
$m
%
$m

Businesses exporting services
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
9
22
0.1
2.4
Mining
60
226
0.7
3.8
Manufacturing
428
990
3.0
2.3
Construction
22
26
0.1
1.2
Wholesale trade
301
1,306
4.0
4.3
Retail trade
53
61
0.2
1.2
Transport and storage
132
7,558
23.2
57.3
Communication services
47
1,022
3.1
21.7
Property and business services
872
2,388
7.3
2.7
Education
68
287
0.9
4.2
Cultural and recreational services
178
318
1.0
1.8
Personal and other services
14
48
0.1
3.4
Other
122
406
1.2
3.3
Total
2,306
14,658
45.0
7.4
Other service exporters (a)
(a)
17,911
55.0
(a)
Total service exporters
2,306
32,569
100.0
. .

(a) Includes travel, insurance, financial and government services. Numbers of exporters cannot be estimated for these service types, as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to measure these exports.

SYMBOLS AND OTHER USAGE
The following symbols and abbreviations have been used in this article:
. .not applicable
n.a.not available
n.p.not available for publication
*estimate has a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution


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