International Trade: Supplementary Information, Calendar Year

Latest release

Detailed calendar year statistics on international trade in goods and services, by country and state

Reference period
2024

Key statistics

  • Australia's balance on goods and services was a surplus of $30.2b in 2024.
  • Total goods and services exports (credits) fell $30.4b (4.5%) to $644.4b.
  • Total goods and services imports (debits) rose $28.0b (4.8%) to $614.1b.

Trade in Goods data included in the Key statistics section is on a Balance of Payments basis (original, current prices).

Trade in Goods data in the Total merchandise and services trade by country section and the Data downloads is on a merchandise trade basis (original, current prices).

For information about the differences in compilation, refer to International Merchandise Trade, Australia: Concepts, Sources and Methods.

Total merchandise and services trade by country

Total exports

In 2024, Australia’s top 5 partner countries for merchandise trade and services exports were:

  1. China, which fell $22.2b (10.2%) to $196.0b
  2. Japan, which fell $14.8b (16.4%) to $75.6b
  3. South Korea, which fell $2.4b (5.3%) to $41.7b
  4. United States of America, which rose $3.3b (9.0%) to $40.1b
  5. India, which rose $0.5b (1.4%) to $35.5b.

These five countries made up 60.4% of Australia’s exports.

Total imports

In 2024, Australia’s top 5 partner countries for merchandise trade and services imports were:

  1. China, which rose $6.6b (6.0%) to $115.6b
  2. United States of America, which rose $8.4b (9.9%) to $93.2b
  3. Japan, which fell $0.5b (1.5%) to $32.2b
  4. South Korea, which fell $1.9b (7.0%) to $25.6b
  5. Thailand, which rose $1.2b (5.4%) to $24.1b. 

These five countries made up 48.9% of Australia’s imports.

  1. Imports data for Japan for 2021 has been excluded due to confidentiality restrictions. Data with confidentiality restrictions 'No commodity details' are excluded from individual country totals and included in 'No country details'. For further information about confidentiality restrictions, see the Methodology.  

Trade in services

Key revisions

In September Quarter 2024, the ABS incorporated new methods for estimating selected digital services imports (debits) and exports (credits) with the International Trade in Services series revised back to 2009.

In March Quarter 2024, the data sources for travel services imports (debits) were updated resulting in revisions back to 2022.

For further information refer to the Changes and revisions in this issue and the article Introduction of digital services in the Balance of Payments.

In 2024:

  • The balance on services was a deficit of $38.2b.
  • Services exports (credits) rose $11.0b (9.6%) to $126.4b.
  • Services imports (debits) rose $11.9b (7.8%) to $164.6b.

Exports of services

In 2024:

  • Total exports of services rose $11,026m (9.6%) to $126,380m, driven by Travel services.
  • Education-related travel rose $4,606m (9.8%).
  • Other personal travel rose $3,717m (19.6%).
  • Charges for the use of intellectual property rose $1,563m (19.8%). 

Services exports by state

In 2024:

  • All states recorded a rise in the exports of services, driven by Personal travel.
  • New South Wales and Victoria represented 44.8% and 26.2% of all services exports, respectively.

Services exports by country

In 2024:

  • China remained Australia’s largest services exports partner, accounting for 13.3% of total services exports.
  • Total services exports to China rose $2,906m (20.9%).
  • United States of America was Australia’s second largest services exports partner, accounting for 12.4% of total services exports.
Services exports by country (a)
Country (b)2024
($m)
2024
(% contribution)
Change from 2023
($m)
China16,80013.32,906
United States of America15,71312.4412
Asia, nes13,94011.02,336
India10,4798.3862
United Kingdom7,6216.0-214
New Zealand6,6765.3120
Singapore4,8883.9137
Vietnam3,5332.8902
Philippines3,4242.7929
Japan2,9232.3341
All other countries40,38332.02,295
Total126,380100.011,026

nes - not elsewhere specified

  1. For sign conventions, refer to the Methodology.
  2. Refer to the Methodology for an explanation of partner countries and groups.

Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Imports of services

In 2024:

  • Total imports of services rose $11,890m (7.8%) to $164,592m.
  • Travel services rose $5,314m (8.3%), driven by Other personal related travel services.
  • Other services rose $5,858m (9.4%), driven by a rise in Charges for the use of intellectual property.

Services imports by state

In 2024:

  • All states recorded a rise in services imports.
  • New South Wales and Victoria represent 41.7% and 24.5% of all services imports, respectively.

Services imports by country

In 2024:

  • United States of America remained Australia’s largest services imports partner, accounting for 25.2% of the total services imports.
Services imports by country (a)
Country (b)2024
($m)
2024
(% contribution)
Change from 2023 (c)
($m)
United States of America-41,40425.2-4,342
United Kingdom-10,8976.6266
Indonesia-10,8386.6-1,752
New Zealand-10,8026.6-58
Singapore-9,0515.5-725
Asia, nes-8,3955.1-184
Japan-7,0104.3-1,458
India-6,0163.7-251
China-5,2013.2-878
Germany-5,0753.171
All other countries-49,90330.3-2,579
Total-164,592100.0-11,890

nes - not elsewhere specified

  1. For sign conventions, refer to the Methodology.
  2. Refer to the Methodology for an explanation of partner countries and groups.
  3. A negative sign indicates a rise in imports while a positive sign indicates a fall in imports.

Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Travel services exports

In 2024:

  • Travel services exports rose $9,078m (13.1%) to $78,506m, representing 62.1% of total services exports.
  • Education-related travel services accounted for 65.6% of Travel services exports.

Travel services exports by state

In 2024:

  • All states recorded a rise in Travel services exports.
  • New South Wales rose $3,070m (12.1%) to $28,401m.
  • Victoria rose $4,138m (22.0%) to $22,924m.
  • Queensland rose $852m (7.5%) to $12,258m.

Travel services exports by country

In 2024:

  • China rose $2,783m (22.0%) to $15,450m.
  • India rose $974m (10.8%) to $10,012m.
  • Nepal rose $140m (3.4%) to $4,313m.
  • Vietnam rose $913m (37.2%) to $3,368m.
Travel services exports by country (a)
Country (b)2024
($m)
2024
(% contribution)
Change from 2023
($m)
China15,45019.72,783
India10,01212.8974
Nepal4,3135.5140
Vietnam3,3684.3913
All other countries45,36357.84,268
Total78,506100.09,078
  1. For sign conventions, refer to the Methodology.
  2. Refer to the Methodology for an explanation of partner countries and groups.

Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Education-related travel services

In 2024:

  • Education-related travel services rose $4,606m (9.8%) to $51,518m, exceeding the pre-pandemic level from 2019 by 28.6%.
  • Education-related services rose in all states.
  • China rose $1,591m (14.3%) to $12,710m, and was the largest exports partner for Education-related travel services, accounting for 24.7% of the total.
  • India rose by $1,014m (12.7%) to $9,005m, and Vietnam rose by $453m (23.1%) to $2,416.

Other personal travel services

In 2024:

  • Other personal related travel rose $3,717m (19.6%) to $22,650m, exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
  • Other personal related travel rose in all states except South Australia and the Northern Territory.
  • China rose $1,092m (91.5%) to $2,286m, and was Australia’s largest exports partner of Other personal travel services, accounting for 10.1% of the total.
  • New Zealand rose $17m (0.8%) to $2,196m, and was Australia’s second largest exports partner of Other personal travel services, accounting for 9.7% of the total.

Travel services imports

In 2024:

  • Travel services imports rose $5,314m (8.3%) to $69,090m.
  • Travel services imports accounted for 42.0% of total services imports.

Travel services imports by state

In 2024:

  • Imports of travel services rose for all states.
  • New South Wales rose $1,388m (6.6%) to $22,572m.
  • Victoria rose $943m (5.2%) to $19,023m.
  • Queensland rose $1,751m (15.6%) to $13,004m.

Travel services imports by country

In 2024:

  • Indonesia was the largest imports partner of Travel services, accounting for 15.2% of total travel imports, followed by New Zealand with 11.7%.
  • Countries with the largest increases of imports of Travel services were Indonesia which rose $1,672m (19.0%) to $10,481m, Japan which rose $1,311m (38.2%) to $4,742m and China which rose $796m (32.4%) to $3,253m.
Travel services imports by country (a)
Country (b)2024
($m)
2024
(% contribution)
Change from 2023 (c)
($m)
Indonesia-10,48115.2-1,672
New Zealand-8,04911.7-355
Japan-4,7426.9-1,311
United States of America-4,3266.3-140
United Kingdom-3,7015.4137
All other countries-37,79154.7-1,973
Total-69,090100.0-5,314
  1. For sign conventions, refer to the Methodology.
  2. Refer to the Methodology for an explanation of partner countries and groups.
  3. A negative sign indicates a rise in imports while a positive sign indicates a fall in imports.

Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Data downloads

Table 1. Merchandise exports, by selected countries, by six month aggregates, FOB value, $m

Table 2. Merchandise imports, by selected countries, by six month aggregates, customs value, $m

Table 3. International trade in services, credits, state by calendar year, $m

Table 4. International trade in services, debits, state by calendar year, $m

Table 5. International trade in services, credits, calendar year by country and service, $m

Table 6. International trade in services, debits, calendar year by country and service, $m

Table 7. International trade in services, credits, calendar year by country and travel service, $m

Table 8. International trade in services, debits, calendar year by country and travel service, $m

Table 9. International trade in services, credits, education related travel, by education sector, by type of expenditure by calendar year, $m

Changes and revisions in this issue

Reference period

Trade in goods imports (debits) and exports (credits) grand totals, referred to in the Key statistics section, and all trade in services statistics, were compiled on a Balance of Payments basis (original, current prices) and are aligned with the December 2024 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, released in March 2025.

All merchandise trade country totals, along with grand totals in Tables 1 and 2, are compiled on a merchandise trade basis (original, current prices) and are aligned with the January 2025 monthly issue of International Trade in Goods, released in March 2025. Estimates for trade in goods for July 2024 to December 2024 are preliminary, all other periods represent final data.

Country name changes

All references to 'Gaza Strip and West Bank' and 'Turkey' have been updated to 'Occupied Palestinian Territories' and 'Türkiye' in the data downloads, respectively.

Additional information regarding country names is available in the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2016 publication.

Revisions

This publication includes historical revisions which are also included in the Australian System of National Accounts, 2023-24, released in October 2024, and the September Quarter 2024 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, released in December 2024.

Impacts from improved digital services estimates

This publication includes a newly introduced methodology to measure selected digital services imports and exports. The inclusion of the new digital services estimates has led to revisions to both imports and exports of services from 2009 and consequently impacts Australia’s Current Account balance. This is particularly the case from the 2016 calendar year onwards when the imports (debits) of these digital services increased significantly. For more information refer to the Methodology or the article Introduction of digital services in the Balance of Payments.

Revisions to travel services debits

This publication incorporates revisions to the Travel Services debits series following the reintroduction of the National Visitors Survey (NVS) data to determine the 2022 annual benchmark which resulted in revisions to Travel Services debits back to 2022. The revised estimates more accurately reflect the value of travel debits as the pattern of Australian residents travelling overseas returns towards pre-pandemic levels. 

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5368.0.55.004.

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