Business turnover slows in May

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Released
10/07/2025
Source
Monthly Business Turnover Indicator, May 2025
Release date and time
10/07/2025 11:30am AEST

Business turnover fell 0.1 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in May 2025, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: ‘This is the first fall in monthly business turnover since October 2024.

‘The Arts and recreation services industry had the largest fall, down 5.5 per cent. The Gambling activities subdivision drove this drop with a fall of 11.2 per cent, following a rise in April.

‘Other notable falls were for Manufacturing, down 1.3 per cent, and Retail trade, down 0.8 per cent.’

‘Softening the fall, we saw rises in Electricity, gas, water and waste services, up 1.7 per cent, and Wholesale trade, up 1.1 per cent,’ Mr Ewing said.
 

Compared to May 2024, turnover was higher for 10 of the 13 industries included in the indicator. Business turnover was 3.3 per cent higher than in May 2024.

The industries that saw the largest annual rises were Accommodation and food services (+11.9 per cent) and Manufacturing (+8.5 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Mining industry (-4.6 per cent) and Arts and recreation services (-3.7 per cent) saw annual falls.

In trend terms, the 13-industry aggregate showed a 0.1 per cent rise in business turnover in May.

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.
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