Business turnover rises 0.5% in March

Media Release

Released

9/05/2025

Source

Monthly Business Turnover Indicator, March 2025

Business turnover rose 0.5 per cent in trend terms in March 2025, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: ‘We have seen a continued rise in monthly business turnover since September 2024.

13-industy aggregate, turnover indicator, trend
Reference month	Business turnover index (pts)	Monthly percentage change (%)
Mar-20	97.8	-1.4
Apr-20	92.9	-5.1
May-20	92.0	-0.9
Jun-20	92.7	0.8
Jul-20	93.0	0.3
Aug-20	93.4	0.5
Sep-20	94.1	0.7
Oct-20	94.8	0.8
Nov-20	97.0	2.3
Dec-20	98.9	1.9
Jan-21	100.3	1.4
Feb-21	101.3	1.0
Mar-21	103.2	1.8
Apr-21	104.6	1.4
May-21	106.2	1.5
Jun-21	107.0	0.8
Jul-21	107.3	0.3
Aug-21	107.8	0.4
Sep-21	107.8	0.0
Oct-21	108.9	1.0
Nov-21	111.3	2.2
Dec-21	113.0	1.5
Jan-22	115.3	2.1
Feb-22	117.7	2.0
Mar-22	122.2	3.8
Apr-22	124.7	2.1
May-22	127.5	2.3
Jun-22	129.7	1.7
Jul-22	131.0	1.0
Aug-22	132.2	1.0
Sep-22	131.3	-0.7
Oct-22	131.6	0.3
Nov-22	131.7	0.1
Dec-22	131.8	0.0
Jan-23	131.7	0.0
Feb-23	131.6	-0.1
Mar-23	131.4	-0.2
Apr-23	131.1	-0.2
May-23	130.7	-0.3
Jun-23	130.8	0.1
Jul-23	130.2	-0.5
Aug-23	130.9	0.5
Sep-23	131.7	0.6
Oct-23	132.1	0.4
Nov-23	132.3	0.1
Dec-23	132.2	-0.1
Jan-24	132.0	-0.1
Feb-24	132.1	0.0
Mar-24	132.3	0.2
Apr-24	132.8	0.3
May-24	133.1	0.2
Jun-24	133.2	0.1
Jul-24	133.2	0.0
Aug-24	133.1	0.0
Sep-24	133.3	0.1
Oct-24	133.8	0.4
Nov-24	134.6	0.6
Dec-24	135.6	0.7
Jan-25	136.6	0.7
Feb-25	137.4	0.6
Mar-25	138.0	0.5

13-industy aggregate, turnover indicator, trend

["Reference month","Business turnover index","Monthly percentage change"]

[["Mar-20","Apr-20","May-20","Jun-20","Jul-20","Aug-20","Sep-20","Oct-20","Nov-20","Dec-20","Jan-21","Feb-21","Mar-21","Apr-21","May-21","Jun-21","Jul-21","Aug-21","Sep-21","Oct-21","Nov-21","Dec-21","Jan-22","Feb-22","Mar-22","Apr-22","May-22","Jun-22","Jul-22","Aug-22","Sep-22","Oct-22","Nov-22","Dec-22","Jan-23","Feb-23","Mar-23","Apr-23","May-23","Jun-23","Jul-23","Aug-23","Sep-23","Oct-23","Nov-23","Dec-23","Jan-24","Feb-24","Mar-24","Apr-24","May-24","Jun-24","Jul-24","Aug-24","Sep-24","Oct-24","Nov-24","Dec-24","Jan-25","Feb-25","Mar-25"],[[97.799999999999997],[92.900000000000006],[92],[92.700000000000003],[93],[93.400000000000006],[94.099999999999994],[94.799999999999997],[97],[98.900000000000006],[100.3],[101.3],[103.2],[104.59999999999999],[106.2],[107],[107.3],[107.8],[107.8],[108.90000000000001],[111.3],[113],[115.3],[117.7],[122.2],[124.7],[127.5],[129.69999999999999],[131],[132.19999999999999],[131.30000000000001],[131.59999999999999],[131.69999999999999],[131.80000000000001],[131.69999999999999],[131.59999999999999],[131.40000000000001],[131.09999999999999],[130.69999999999999],[130.80000000000001],[130.19999999999999],[130.90000000000001],[131.69999999999999],[132.09999999999999],[132.30000000000001],[132.19999999999999],[132],[132.09999999999999],[132.30000000000001],[132.80000000000001],[133.09999999999999],[133.19999999999999],[133.19999999999999],[133.09999999999999],[133.30000000000001],[133.80000000000001],[134.59999999999999],[135.59999999999999],[136.59999999999999],[137.40000000000001],[138]],[[-1.3999999999999999],[-5.0999999999999996],[-0.90000000000000002],[0.80000000000000004],[0.29999999999999999],[0.5],[0.69999999999999996],[0.80000000000000004],[2.2999999999999998],[1.8999999999999999],[1.3999999999999999],[1],[1.8],[1.3999999999999999],[1.5],[0.80000000000000004],[0.29999999999999999],[0.40000000000000002],[0],[1],[2.2000000000000002],[1.5],[2.1000000000000001],[2],[3.7999999999999998],[2.1000000000000001],[2.2999999999999998],[1.7],[1],[1],[-0.69999999999999996],[0.29999999999999999],[0.10000000000000001],[0],[0],[-0.10000000000000001],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.20000000000000001],[-0.29999999999999999],[0.10000000000000001],[-0.5],[0.5],[0.59999999999999998],[0.40000000000000002],[0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0.29999999999999999],[0.20000000000000001],[0.10000000000000001],[0],[0],[0.10000000000000001],[0.40000000000000002],[0.59999999999999998],[0.69999999999999996],[0.69999999999999996],[0.59999999999999998],[0.5]]]

[]

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‘The 13-industry aggregate showed a 0.4 per cent growth in business turnover in March in seasonally adjusted terms, with eight of the 13 industries rising.

‘The Wholesale trade industry led the growth, up 2.2 per cent. Driving this rise were Basic material wholesaling, which rebounded following a dip in exports in February, and Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts wholesaling.’

Rises in these industries were partially offset by falls in five of the 13 industries.

‘The largest drops were in Electricity, gas, water and waste services, down 4.1 per cent, and Transport, postal and warehousing, down 3.9 per cent. Both of these industries were impacted by adverse weather conditions across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia,’ Mr Ewing said.

Change in business turnover, seasonally adjusted
	February 2025 to March 2025 (%)	March 2024 to March 2025 (%)
Wholesale trade	2.2	5.9
Arts and recreation services	2.0	-1.4
Information media and telecommunications	1.8	9.7
Manufacturing	1.6	11.9
Mining	1.1	-5.9
Administrative and support services	0.7	3.3
Construction	0.2	9.0
Retail trade	0.2	2.7
Professional, scientific and technical services	-0.5	6.9
Other services	-0.5	7.8
Accommodation and food services	-2.3	5.2
Transport, postal and warehousing	-3.9	4.5
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	-4.1	3.0
13-industry aggregate	0.4	4.6

Change in business turnover, seasonally adjusted

["","February 2025 to March 2025","March 2024 to March 2025"]

[["Wholesale trade","Arts and recreation services","Information media and telecommunications","Manufacturing","Mining","Administrative and support services","Construction","Retail trade","Professional, scientific and technical services","Other services","Accommodation and food services","Transport, postal and warehousing","Electricity, gas, water and waste services","13-industry aggregate"],[[2.2000000000000002],[2],[1.8],[1.6000000000000001],[1.1000000000000001],[0.69999999999999996],[0.20000000000000001],[0.20000000000000001],[-0.5],[-0.5],[-2.2999999999999998],[-3.8999999999999999],[-4.0999999999999996],[0.40000000000000002]],[[5.9000000000000004],[-1.3999999999999999],[9.6999999999999993],[11.9],[-5.9000000000000004],[3.2999999999999998],[9],[2.7000000000000002],[6.9000000000000004],[7.7999999999999998],[5.2000000000000002],[4.5],[3],[4.5999999999999996]]]

[]

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Compared to March 2024, turnover was higher for 11 of the 13 industries included in the indicator.

The industries that saw the strongest annual rises were Manufacturing (+11.9 per cent), and Information media and telecommunications (+9.7 per cent).

The industries with annual falls were Mining (-5.9 per cent), and Arts and recreation services (-1.4 per cent).

Media notes

The Monthly Business Turnover Indicator is derived using Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Business Activity Statement (BAS) data from monthly remitters.
Monthly BAS reporting covers businesses with GST annual turnover of $20 million or more and a proportion of smaller businesses that report on a voluntary basis.
The indicator includes 13 industry divisions and 41 industry subdivisions classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006, and provides timely and frequent insights into economic activity, which complement the longstanding quarterly measures.
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (9am-5pm Mon-Fri).
Watch our data literacy presentation on CPI, inflation and cost of living data as well as our ABS data crash course, designed especially for journalists to learn how to find, download and interpret our data.
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Business turnover rises 0.5% in March

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