International Merchandise Trade, Preliminary, Australia

This release provides preliminary estimates for Australian international merchandise (goods) trade for the month of March 2020 to help measure the economic impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). These estimates are compiled from administrative data (customs records) sourced from the Department of Home Affairs and are subject to revision. The final March monthly estimates will be published in International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat. no. 5368.0) on 7 May 2020.

These preliminary estimates are presented on an original, current price (merchandise (goods) trade) basis only, not a Balance of Payments (BoP) basis. This means that the data are presented on a customs basis, whereas BoP data are derived from the customs basis by applying adjustments for factors such as valuation, coverage, timing and residence, as required by the Balance of Payments and International Investment Manual (BPM6). More information on data that these estimates are directly comparable with can be seen in the Data notes further below.

• Exports of goods in March 2020 increased from the revised February 2020 merchandise trade estimate of $28,021m by $8,079m (29%) to $36,100m.
• The large increase in exports comes after declines in January and February 2020.
• The increase in March 2020 was predominantly driven by a $4,750m (20%) increase in the value of exports of Non-rural goods and a $2,474m (225%) increase in the value of exports of Non-monetary gold.
• Within Non-rural goods there were increases in exports from the resources sector including strong increases in the value of exports of coal, gas and petroleum and in particular a large increase in the value of exports of iron ore to China.
• The increase in the value of Non-monetary gold was driven by exports to Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
• Year-on-year, exports in March 2020 increased by $4,846m (16%) on March 2019.
   

• Imports of goods in March 2020 increased from the revised February 2020 merchandise trade estimate of $21,696m by $2,065m (10%) to $23,760m.
• This increase was driven by increases in Capital goods, up $895m (18%); Intermediate and other goods, up $583m (6%); and Non-monetary gold, up $467m (85%).
• The increase in imports was spread across a range of goods.
• Within Capital goods, there were large increases in the import of mobile phones, office and ADP machinery (including laptop computers), and aircraft.
• China is Australia’s largest source of imports, accounting for, on average, around a quarter of the value of all imports. Imports from China declined significantly in February with a 41% decline on the January month.
• In March, imports from China regained some strength, up $300m (7%). Driving this increase were increases in imports of consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptop computers as well as electrical machinery.
• Year-on-year, imports in March 2020 decreased by $262m (1%) on March 2019.
   

As noted above, these are preliminary estimates presented on an original, current price merchandise (goods) trade basis only, not a Balance of Payments (BoP) basis. This means that estimates presented within this publication (mainly the detailed table of data) are only directly comparable with data contained in Tables 12a and 13a in International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat no. 5368.0).

Caution should be exercised in interpreting preliminary estimates as they may be different to the final published estimates because:

• Estimates are based on preliminary data provided by businesses and individuals, and are subject to revision as more complete and accurate information becomes available. Therefore accuracy of these estimates may be poorer than for final estimates.
• This data does not include adjustments that are supplementary to transaction information provided by the Department of Home Affairs for example, adjustments to account for low value imported items and other above-mentioned BoP adjustments.
   

The timeline for March 2020 below provides key processing timeframes and publication dates for the March 2020 international trade in goods data.

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