QTPA Member Alert | EXPORT AWARENESS AND SPLIT X INDUSTRY (Exporting is still alive and well) (18/6/2012)

EXPORT AWARENESS AND SPLIT X INDUSTRY (Exporting is still alive and well).

Who are Australian Exporters?

This month the ABS released its annual publication on the Characteristics of Australian exporters, 2010-11. This tells us about the number and type of businesses that export from Australia, as opposed to the value and type of the goods being exported (which is captured in greater detail the monthly ABS trade data). Key points:

There were 44,766 exporting businesses in 2010-11, almost unchanged from 2009-10 (44,581 firms) or 2006-07 (45,195 firms). Of these:

• 573 goods exporters were in the Mining industry. 228 large mining businesses represented less than 1% of all goods exporting businesses but were responsible for 54% of the total value of goods exports in 2010-11. The Mining industry had the highest average value of exports per exporter ($234m).
• 9,268 (21% of exporting firms) were manufacturers. There were 186 fewer manufacturing exporting companies compared to 2009-10, and 807 fewer than in 2006-07.
• 12,076 exporters (27% of exporting firms) were in the Wholesale trade industry. They contributed $26b (11%) of the total value of goods exports. Another 3,592 exporters were classed as retailers (8% of all exporting firms) but they exported only 1.1% of goods by value. This suggests that around 12% of our goods exports (i.e. manufactured goods) go through at least one extra layer of transactions before leaving Australia.
• 3,265 businesses (4.2%) were services exporters. Travel services exports was $31b (61%) of total services exports. The number of businesses exporting services increased by 141 (5%) compared to 2009-10, but was down 297 (8%) from 2006-07. 36 (1%) of these services exporters had a total value of services exports worth ‘$100m or more’. These exporters contributed 18% of the total value of services exports.
• Reflecting the location of the miners, 46% of Australia’s total value of goods exports in 2010–11 came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland (20%), New South Wales (15%), and Victoria (8%).