Media releases
Tuesday 2 July 2002 - MVT065/2002
May Trade Figures Reflect Strength of Australian Economy
International Trade figures for the month of May released today by
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are a true indication of
the strength of the Australian economy, Trade Minister Mark Vaile
said.
Mr Vaile said the ABS figures should come as no surprise; Australia
is the fastest growing economy in the developed world.
“Rural, manufacturing and services exports continue to perform strongly
in a slow-moving global economy, while Australia’s import growth remained
firm,” Mr Vaile said.
“The rural sector continues to perform strongly achieving growth
in exports of meat products (up 12 per cent), wool (up 13 per cent)
and other rural goods, including canola and cotton (up 23 per cent).”
“Manufacturing exports also performed strongly in May with increases
in the export of machinery (up 17 per cent), and other manufacturers.
Other goods also increased by 29 per cent to $761 million mainly due
to the export of non-monetary gold.
“Service exports, Australia’s fastest growing exports, were up by
5 per cent in May which is particularly encouraging given the difficult
trading environment. This impressive growth is expected to continue
given the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to break down market
access barriers and discriminatory practices in international services
trade.”
Mr Vaile said, notwithstanding slower growth in a number of Australia’s
trading partners, exports in May to the EU, Korea, China and Japan
continued to grow.
“Exports to the European Union were up 24 per cent on April’s figures,
and exports over the last 12 months to the Republic of Korea increased
by a hefty 31 per cent, and exports to China rose by 28 per cent.
“Australia’s exports to Japan also increased by 3 per cent compared
to April, despite Japan’s economic difficulties. This performance
reflects well on the competitiveness of Australia’s exporters and
the strength of their business relationships with Japanese customers.”
Mr Vaile said Australia’s import growth remained firm in May, reflecting
the strength of the Australian economy compared with the world economy
and most of our major trading partners.
“The import of a number of big expenditure items, particularly civil
aircraft, telecommunications and industrial transport equipment contributed
to a 2 per cent rise in goods and services imports. A small decline
in exports of goods and services gave rise to a $16 million increase
to $435 million, in trend terms, to the deficit of goods and services
in May compared to April.”
Media Contact: Mark Croxford +61 02 6277 7420
Local Date:
Thursday, 17-May-2012 16:52:24 EST
