International Merchandise Exports (ABS Cat No 5368.0)
Latest month: July 2016
Hong Kong and China together were estimated to
have accounted for 35.3 per cent of total Tasmanian
exports in the year to July 2016. The nominal value
of exports to China (including Hong Kong) increased
by $351 million or 55.3 per cent in the year to
July 2016 compared to the previous year. The
primary drivers of this increase were increased
non-ferrous metals and seafood exports.
Exports to Malaysia increased by $24 million or
11.2 per cent in the same period, due to an increase
in exports of non-ferrous metals.
Exports to Taiwan, Tasmania’s second largest export
destination,
decreased
by
$64 million
or
19.2 per cent in the same period, due to decreased
non-ferrous metals exports.
Department of Treasury and Finance
Table 1: Value of exports by jurisdiction,
July 2016, nominal original data
Year to
Yearly
Jul 2016 ($m)
change (%)
NSW
36 211
-2.3
Vic
23 537
-0.2
Qld
47 241
0.3
SA
11 442
0.9
WA
99 359
-9.2
Tas
2 791
8.4
NT
Original data
4 616
-22.7
ACT
14
na
Aus
242 627
-4.4
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: TABLE 15A
Index: 2010-11 = 100,
12 month original moving
average, nominal data
Chart 1: Value of exports, Tasmania and
Australia, nominal original data
Tasmania
115
Australia
110
105
100
95
90
85
80
75
Jun 11 Jun 12 Jun 13 Jun 14 Jun 15 Jun 16 Jun 17
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: TABLE 15A
Chart 2: Year-average percentage change in
Tasmanian exports, nominal original data
Year-on-year % change
nominal original data
Release date: 8 September 2016
Next release date: 6 October 2016
Data in this release are reported in 12-month moving
averages due to data volatility.
Annual movements
The estimated nominal value of overseas
merchandise exports from Tasmania increased by
8.4 per cent, to $2.79 billion, in the year to July 2016
compared to the previous year. Nationally, the
nominal value of overseas merchandise exports was
estimated to have decreased by 4.4 per cent in the
same period (Table 1).
The nominal value of Tasmania’s exports declined
from 2011 to mid-2015, but has generally increased
in year-average terms since late 2015 (Chart 1). The
lower value of Tasmanian exports since 2011 is partly
due to a general decline in export commodity prices
and the exclusion of some confidential commodities
from the Tasmanian total value of exports since
July 2013. Nationally, the nominal value of exports
has been decreasing from the peak level in mid-2014.
Export markets
The ABS estimates that mainland China was the
largest importer of Tasmanian goods in the year to
July 2016, accounting for 31.1 per cent of the State’s
total nominal value of exports (Table 2).
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
Jul 15
Oct 15
Jan 16
Apr 16
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: TABLE 15A
Jul 16
International Merchandise Exports (ABS Cat No 5368.0)
Latest month: July 2016
Exports to the USA, the fifth largest export
destination, decreased by $40 million or
21.6 per cent in the year to July 2016 compared to
the previous year. This was primarily due to
decreased non-ferrous metals exports partly offset
by an increase of meat exports.
Exports to Thailand decreased by $27 million or
24.1 per cent in the same period, due to a reduction
in exports of non-ferrous metals.
Tasmania’s nominal value of exports to APEC
countries recorded an increase of 10.3 per cent in
the year to July 2016 compared to the previous year
(Table 4). Tasmanian exports to the developing
countries increased by 12.8 per cent in nominal
terms in the same period.
Export commodities
Export data by commodity may be misleading due to
data confidentiality. As a result, they may not reflect
the actual performance in a certain period and part
of any increase or decrease may be due to changes
to the commodities on the confidential list rather
than changes in actual exports.
While some confidentialised exports are included in
the ‘other and confidential’ category and in the
State’s total value of exports (such as hardwood
chips), other confidentialised items (such as exports
of vessels, products from poppies and softwood
chips), are not included in any commodity group and
are excluded from the State’s total value of exports.
Caution should be taken when interpreting some
commodity exports.
More detailed information about commodity
confidentiality can be found in International
Merchandise Trade: Confidential Commodities List (ABS
Cat no 5372.0.55.001).
In the year to July 2016, around 56 per cent of
Tasmania’s exports by value were non-ferrous
metals or metallic ores (Table 3).
The largest increase in exports by value was for
non-ferrous metals (up $138 million or
13.5 per cent), followed by seafood (up $36 million
or 24.3 per cent) and fruit and (up $29 million or
50.1 per cent) in the year to July 2016 compared to
the previous year.
Department of Treasury and Finance
Table 2: Tasmanian major export partners,
year to July 2016, nominal original data
Value
Share
Jan 00
($m)
(%)
Yearly change
($m)
China
868
31.1
384
79.3
Taiwan
270
9.7
-64
-19.2
Malaysia
238
8.5
24
11.2
Japan
208
7.5
-5
-2.3
USA
145
5.2
-40
-21.6
Indonesia
145
5.2
1
0.7
Korea
131
4.7
5
4.0
Hong Kong
118
4.2
-33
-21.9
New Zealand
(%)
113
4.0
20
21.5
India
91
3.3
16
21.3
Thailand
85
3.0
-27
-24.1
Singapore
46
1.6
-14
-23.3
UK
9
0.3
3
50.0
South Africa
1
0.0
-13
-92.9
323
2 791
11.6
100.0
-41
216
-11.3
8.4
All other
Total
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: TABLE 36F
Table 3: Tasmanian exports by commodity*,
year to July 2016, nominal original data
Original
Value
Share
Yearly change
Commodity
($m)
(%)
($m)
(%)
Non-ferrous metals
1 159
41.5
138
13.5
Other & confidential
569
20.4
126
25.4
Metallic ores and
400
14.3
- 83
-17.2
Meat
206
7.4
20
10.6
Seafood
186
6.7
36
24.3
Dairy products
122
4.4
- 36
-22.6
Fruit & vegetables
87
3.1
29
50.1
Wood & woodchips
31
1.1
-2
-6.7
Vehicles (incl vessels)
17
0.6
-5
-23.4
Textiles
14
0.5
-7
-33.0
2 791
100.0
216
8.4
metal scraps
Total
*Exports data by commodity may be misleading due to data confidentiality. As a result, they may not
reflect the actual performance in a certain period.
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: DATA ON
SUBSCRI
International Merchandise Exports (ABS Cat No 5368.0)
Latest month: July 2016
In the same period, the largest decrease in nominal
export value was for metallic ores and metal scraps
(down $83 million or 17.2 per cent), followed by
dairy products (down $36 million or 22.6 per cent).
In the year to July 2016, 42 per cent of exports of
metallic ores and metal scraps and 40 per cent of
non-ferrous metals were sold to China (including
Hong Kong). Around 22 per cent of metallic ores
and metal scraps were sold to Malaysia. In the year
to July 2016, around 17 per cent of Tasmanian
metallic ores and metal scraps and around
12 per cent of non-ferrous metals were exported to
Taiwan (Table 5).
Table 4:
Major
Tasmanian
export
destinations* by value, year to July 2016,
nominal original data
Original
Country groups
Value
Growth
($m)
(%)
APEC
2 538
10.3
Developing Countries
2 259
12.8
ASEAN
675
-5.1
OECD
660
-3.4
EU
59
0.0
Least Developed Countries
18
-5.3
* The sum of the values in Table 4 exceeds the value of total Tasmanian exports as
several countries are included in more than one country group.
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0:
TABLE 36F
Table 5: Tasmanian export commodities – major destinations, percentage share,
year to July 2016, nominal original data
Original
Non-ferrous
Metallic ores and
Agriculture and
metals
metal scrap
seafood
Country
All other
%
%
%
%
China (including Hong Kong)
40
42
24
31
Taiwan
12
17
3
6
Malaysia
7
22
3
7
United States
1
0
17
4
Japan
3
4
16
8
Korea
4
7
4
4
10
1
2
2
1
0
1
13
21
8
29
25
100
100
100
100
Indonesia
New Zealand
Other
Total *
* Components may not add to total due to rounding.
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, ABS CAT NO 5368.0: DATA ON SUBSCRIPTION
This Data Release is not to be reproduced or altered without the permission of the Economic Analysis Unit.
Contact Details
Economic Analysis Unit
Economic.Analysis@treasury.tas.gov.au