5368.0.55.006 - Number and Characteristics of Australian Exporters, 2005-06  
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SUMMARY COMMENTARY


INTRODUCTION

This article presents an analysis of the characteristics and international trading activities of Australian exporters in 2005-06. The information is compiled as a by-product of producing regular monthly and quarterly statistics on Australia's merchandise trade and international trade in services.


Estimates relating to exporters of merchandise goods are compiled from data sourced from the Australian Customs Service (Customs) and from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Australian Business Register. The methodology used to derive numbers of goods exporters has recently changed and estimates for 2005-06 cannot be compared to previous years. More details about this revised methodology are contained in the feature article New Methodology for Deriving Counts of Australian Exporters, released on the ABS website on 7 April 2006.


Estimates relating to exporters of offshore services are also included. Services exporter counts are derived from the ABS Survey of International Trade in Services (SITS). The coverage of SITS was improved during 2005-06 with the identified population of businesses exporting and/or importing services increasing from 3,299 to 4,615. Of these, 2,513 were identified as active exporters in 2005-06. For more information please refer to Changes to International Trade in Services Statistics, August 2006 released with the August 2006 issue of International Trade in Goods and Services (cat. no. 5368.0). This improved coverage has increased the value of services exports and the number of services exporters. The increased value has been applied proportionally to back series to maintain consistency across the time series but the number of service exporters could not be revised. Therefore, counts of services exporters for 2005-06 are not comparable to previous years. The value of services exports are compiled from SITS and a variety of administrative sources.


The first table in this article presents an overview covering exporters of both goods and services. Tables 2 to 9 present more detailed information on goods exporters and table 10 presents additional information on services exporters.


The Explanatory Notes attached to this article provide important information relating to the methodology used and the limitations in the resulting data. In particular, it is important to note that a business that considers itself part of an export market may not necessarily be included as an exporter in this article. For example, many agricultural products are exported by wholesalers rather than the producers of the good. If the wholesaler owns the goods at the time of export, the wholesaler is included as the exporter .




NUMBER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIAN EXPORTERS


OVERVIEW

As shown in table 1, there were 42,194 Australian exporters in 2005-06. Of these, 40,849 were exporters of merchandise goods, and 2,513 were exporters of services.


Of the businesses engaged in exporting services an estimated 1,168 (46%) businesses were also exporters of merchandise goods.


There were 216 goods exporters with aggregate exports of $100m or more in 2005-06. Although these businesses were less than 1% of the total goods exporter population they contributed 77% by value to total goods exports. In contrast, 27,399 (67%) of goods exporters contributed less than 1% by value to total goods exports.


38% of goods exporters were businesses exporting goods valued between $10,000 and $100,000, with businesses exporting goods valued below $10,000 equalling 29% of goods exporters.


Businesses exporting services with aggregate exports of $100m or more represented 1% of total services exporters and contributed 21% by value to total services exports in 2005-06. Businesses exporting services with aggregate exports below $1m represented 66% of total services exporters.


TABLE 1: EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS, 2005-06

Exporters
Contribution to total number
Value of exports
Contribution to total value
no.
%
$m
%

Goods exporters by value of each business' exports

$100m or more
216
1
116 900
77
$1m and less than $100m
3 903
10
31 734
21
$100,000 and less than $1m
9 331
23
3 125
2
$10,000 and less than $100,000
15 552
38
574
-
Less than $10,000
11 847
29
57
-
Total goods exporters
40 849
100
152 390
100

Services exporters by value of each business' exports

$100m or more
26
1
8 613
21
$1m and less than $100m
838
33
7 742
19
Less than $1m
1 649
66
322
1
Other services exporters(a)
na
na
25 272
60
Total services exporters
2 513
100
41 949
100

Total exporters

Total exporters(b)
42 194
. .
194 339
. .

. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
(a) Value of exports of travel, insurance, financial and government services exports. Numbers of exporters cannot be estimated for these service types as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to measure these exports.
(b) This total excludes duplication of 1,168 businesses which exported both goods and services in 2005-06.



EXPORT ACTIVITY

As shown in table 2, 18,293 (45%) of total goods exporters lodged 1 or 2 export transactions during 2005-06. The majority of these exporters (10,892) were businesses with aggregate exports of less than $10,000. Businesses which exported on fewer than 11 occasions in 2005-06 were 72% of total goods exporters.


4,159 (10%) of goods exporters had more than 50 export transactions in 2005-06. In value terms, 166 of these exporters contributed $105,826m (69%) to the total value of goods exports in 2005-06.


TABLE 2: GOODS EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by NUMBER of EXPORT TRANSACTIONS, 2005-06

Number of export transactions
Value of each business exports
1 to 2
3 to 10
11 to 20
21 to 50
51 or more
Total

Number of Exporters (no.)

$100m or more
-
10
10
30
166
216
$1m and less than $100m
73
172
246
655
2 757
3 903
$100,000 and less than $1m
885
2 592
2 147
2 504
1 203
9 331
$10,000 and less than $100,000
6 443
7 614
1 169
293
33
15 552
Less than $10,000
10 892
922
27
6
-
11 847
Total goods exporters
18 293
11 310
3 599
3 488
4 159
40 849

Value of exports ($m)

$100m or more
-
2 071
2 089
6 915
105 826
116 900
$1m and less than $100m
312
1 388
1 526
2 895
25 613
31 734
$100,000 and less than $1m
217
647
624
958
679
3 125
$10,000 and less than $100,000
182
296
73
20
2
574
Less than $10,000
51
6
-
-
-
57
Total goods exporters
762
4 409
4 312
10 787
132 120
152 390

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)



INDUSTRY

For goods, the exporting business as defined in this analysis is the owner of the good at the time of export and not necessarily the producer of the exported commodity.


In terms of their contribution to the total value of goods exports, the most significant exporting industries were mining (39%), manufacturing (30%) and wholesale trade (19%), as shown in table 3. These three industries accounted for $135,438m (89%) of the value of goods exports in 2005-06.


The industries with the highest number of goods exporters in 2005-06 were wholesale trade 11,834 (29%) and manufacturing 10,358 (25%).


The average value of exports per business in 2005-06 was $3.7m. The mining industry had the highest average value of aggregate exports ($123.9m per exporter), followed by manufacturing ($4.5m per exporter), finance and insurance ($2.9m per exporter) and wholesale trade ($2.5m per exporter). The lowest average value of aggregate exports per exporter occurred in the health and community services and cultural and recreational services industries, with approximately $0.2m per business.


TABLE 3: GOODS EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by INDUSTRY, 2005-06

Exporters
Contribution to total number
Value of exports
Contribution to total value
Industry of exporter
no.
%
$m
%

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
1 123
2.7
1 869
1.2
Mining
483
1.2
59 848
39.3
Manufacturing
10 358
25.4
46 264
30.4
Electricity, gas and water supply
84
0.2
159
0.1
Construction
1 042
2.6
328
0.2
Wholesale trade
11 834
29.0
29 326
19.2
Retail trade
4 205
10.3
2 201
1.4
Transport and storage
1 173
2.9
1 764
1.2
Communication services
286
0.7
77
0.1
Finance and insurance
827
2.0
2 402
1.6
Property and business services
3 886
9.5
5 039
3.3
Health and community services
341
0.8
66
-
Cultural and recreational services
630
1.5
110
0.1
Personal and other services
497
1.2
570
0.4
Other(a)
981
2.4
1 040
0.7
All goods exporters with an ABN
37 749
92.4
151 063
99.1
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
3 100
7.6
1 327
0.9
Total goods exporters
40 849
100.0
152 390
100.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes goods exporters in the accommodation, cafes and restaurants; education; and government administration and defence industries; as well as those newly established businesses yet to confirm their main industry of activity with the Australian Taxation Office.


Table 4 compares the industry of the exporting business with the industry of origin of the commodity exported.


Mining commodities (80%) had the highest correlation between the industry that generally produced them i.e. the mining industry, and the industry which exported the final product. In contrast, only 10% of Australia's agriculture, forestry and fishing commodity exports were exported by the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry. Other industries exported 86% of agriculture, forestry and fishing commodities.


Exports of manufactured goods were $81.1b in 2005-06, of which $42.8b (53%) were exported by the manufacturing industry, $23.2b (29%) by other industries and $13.2b (16%) by the mining industry.


TABLE 4: GOODS EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by Commodity Industry of Origin, 2005-06

Industry of exporter
Agriculture forestry and fishing
Mining
Manufacturing
Other
Total goods exports

Value of exports ($m)

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
1 061
1
806
1
1 869
Mining
-
46 585
13 229
36
59 848
Manufacturing
266
1 412
42 828
1 759
46 264
Other
8 735
9 914
23 219
1 212
43 082
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
58
121
1 000
149
1 327
All goods exporters
10 120
58 032
81 082
3 157
152 390

Contribution to total value (Percentage)

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
10.5
-
1.0
-
1.2
Mining
-
80.3
16.3
1.2
39.3
Manufacturing
2.6
2.4
52.8
55.7
30.4
Other
86.3
17.1
28.6
38.4
28.3
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
0.6
0.2
1.2
4.7
0.9
All goods exporters
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)



SIZE OF BUSINESS

Two different size measures are used for goods exporters in this article. They are the value of each business' exports (see table 1), and the size of the exporting businesses (see table 5 and 9). Traditionally the ABS has used employment to determine the size of a business in its economic collections because this has been the only sizing variable generally available. However, many significant exporters do not have large employment.


For the purposes of this analysis, the size of the business has been determined in terms of three variables - its employment and estimated annual turnover (both derived from the ATO Australian Business Register) and the value of exports (reported to Customs).


The sizing classification criteria applied to goods exporters with an ABN are:

  • small businesses - having fewer than 20 payees and estimated annual Goods and Services Taxation (GST) turnover range less than $1m and exports of less than $1m during the reference period
  • large businesses - having 200 or more payees or estimated annual GST turnover range of $20m or more or exports of $20m or more during the reference period
  • medium businesses - all businesses other than those defined as small or large.

As employment and annual business turnover details are not available for those businesses exporting goods without an ABN, business size is determined by the level of their aggregate exports in 2005-06.


There were 4,136 large goods exporting businesses in 2005-06 representing 10% of all goods exporting businesses but $140.0b of goods exports (or 92% of the value of total goods exports). The industries with the largest number of large goods exporters were manufacturing (1,315) and wholesale trade (1,014). In terms of exports value, mining ($59.4b), manufacturing ($42.0b) and wholesale trade ($25.1b) were the most significant contributors to the large business category.


There were 16,815 medium goods exporting businesses in 2005-06 representing 41% of all goods exporting businesses and $11.0b (7%) of the value of total goods exports. The industries with the largest number of medium goods exporting businesses were manufacturing (5,203) and wholesale trade (5,631).


There were 19,898 small goods exporters in 2005-06 representing 49% of total goods exporters. They contributed $1.3b (1%) to the value of total goods exports in 2005-06.


TABLE 5a: GOODS EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by BUSINESS SIZE, 2005-06

number of exporters
value of exporters ($m)
Large
Medium
Small
Total
Large
Medium
Small
Total

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
73
467
583
1 123
1 315
497
57
1 869
Mining
167
151
165
483
59 393
437
18
59 848
Manufacturing
1 315
5 203
3 840
10 358
42 021
3 945
298
46 264
Construction
85
469
488
1 042
137
162
29
328
Wholesale trade
1 014
5 631
5 189
11 834
25 071
3 813
442
29 326
Retail trade
336
1 570
2 299
4 205
1 560
528
113
2 201
Transport and storage
173
522
478
1 173
1 286
425
53
1 764
Finance and insurance
148
384
295
827
2 166
211
25
2 402
Property and business services
312
1 413
2 161
3 886
4 322
574
143
5 039
Other (a)
503
976
1 339
2 818
1 643
308
71
2 022
All goods exporters with an ABN
4 126
16 786
16 837
37 749
138 914
10 900
1 249
151 063
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
10
29
3 061
3 100
1 094
136
97
1 327
Total goods exporters
4 136
16 815
19 898
40 849
140 008
11 036
1 346
152 390



TABLE 5b: GOODS EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by BUSINESS SIZE, 2005-06

Contribution to total number (percentage)
Contribution to total value (percentage)
Large
Medium
Small
Total
Large
Medium
Small
Total

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
6.5
41.6
51.9
100.0
70.4
26.6
3.0
100.0
Mining
34.6
31.3
34.2
100.0
99.2
0.7
-
100.0
Manufacturing
12.7
50.2
37.1
100.0
90.8
8.5
0.6
100.0
Construction
8.2
45.0
46.8
100.0
41.8
49.4
8.8
100.0
Wholesale trade
8.6
47.6
43.8
100.0
85.5
13.0
1.5
100.0
Retail trade
8.0
37.3
54.7
100.0
70.9
24.0
5.1
100.0
Transport and storage
14.7
44.5
40.8
100.0
72.9
24.1
3.0
100.0
Finance and insurance
17.9
46.4
35.7
100.0
90.2
8.8
1.0
100.0
Property and business services
8.0
36.4
55.6
100.0
85.8
11.4
2.8
100.0
Other(a)
17.8
34.6
47.5
100.0
81.3
15.2
3.5
100.0
All goods exporters with an ABN
10.9
44.5
44.6
100.0
92.0
7.2
0.8
100.0
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
0.3
0.9
98.7
100.0
82.4
10.2
7.3
100.0
Total goods exporters
10.1
41.2
48.7
100.0
91.9
7.2
0.9
100.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes goods exporters engaged in electricity, gas and water supply; communication services; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; health and community services; cultural and recreational services; personal and other services; education; and government administration and defence industries as well as those newly established businesses yet to confirm their main industry of activity with the Australian Taxation Office.



STATE ESTIMATES

Two different concepts are used to measure the state distribution of goods exporters in this article.


The first measure is a count of the number of businesses which export goods that were produced in a given state based on information supplied to Customs with export documentation. The second measure is a count of the number of businesses engaged in exporting activities within a given state based on state of business location data as supplied to the ATO when the business initially registered for GST or subsequently underwent a change in business structure.


Businesses may export commodities produced within their state of location, or another state. As there are some businesses which source exports from more than one state of origin, and may have operations in more than one state of location, the state figures in table 6 sum to more than the Australian goods exporter totals.


An exporter is defined as having locations within the state of origin of the exported commodity if

  • the postcode of the exporter is in the same state as the state of origin of the export, or
  • the exporter has multi-state locations, one of which matches the state of origin of the export.

Data on the state of origin of commodities classified by state of location of the business is presented in table 6. Data on main state of location and industry of the exporter is presented in table 8, for all goods exporters, and in table 9, for small goods exporters.


In 2005-06 36,356 goods exporters had at least one business location in the same state as the state of origin of the commodities they exported. 26,041 goods exporters exported commodities that originated from states in which they were not located.


TABLE 6: Goods Exporters, state estimates, 2005-06(a)

Number of Goods Exporters
State of origin of the exported commodity
Locations in state of origin
Locations not in state of origin
Total

New South Wales
12 359
3 287
15 646
Victoria
9 984
2 915
12 899
Queensland
6 433
2 422
8 855
South Australia
2 212
1 096
3 308
Western Australia
3 706
1 152
4 858
Tasmania
392
383
775
Northern Territory
226
217
443
Australian Capital Territory
np
np
np
Other goods exporters(b)
np
np
np
Total goods exporters
. .
. .
40 849

. . not applicable
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) The sum of exporter numbers in this table exceeds total goods exporters because an exporter may export goods which originate from more than one state.
(b) State details for these exporters cannot be released for confidentiality reasons.


As shown in table 7, 31% of Australia's total goods exports in 2005-06 came from Western Australia, followed by Queensland (23%), New South Wales (18%) and Victoria (12%).


Western Australia ($26.9b) and Queensland ($20.5b) have combined mining exports of $47.3b, representing 79% of total mining industry exports in 2005-06. New South Wales ($11.9b) and Victoria ($9.9b) with combined manufacturing exports of $21.9b, contribute 47% to the total value of manufacturing goods exports.


TABLE 7: GOODS EXPORTERS, VALUE of EXPORTS by INDUSTRY of EXPORTER and STATE of ORIGIN of the EXPORTED COMMODITY, 2005-2006

Industry of exporter
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
Total goods exports(a)

Value of exports ($m)

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
413
206
567
219
337
81
25
1 869
Mining
5 590
1 248
20 467
1 444
26 873
1 342
2 340
59 848
Manufacturing
11 943
9 924
5 618
4 101
9 471
1 167
4
46 264
Construction
66
58
72
10
49
1
3
328
Wholesale trade
5 904
5 725
6 614
1 649
6 994
228
131
29 326
Retail trade
624
219
887
36
50
2
2
2 201
Transport and storage
271
337
222
131
351
15
6
1 764
Finance and insurance
402
587
136
51
1 116
12
12
2 402
Property and business services
1 326
311
397
970
1 634
16
1
5 039
Other(b)
250
263
186
391
188
21
149
2 022
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
62
49
214
16
742
8
2
1 327
Total goods exporters
26 851
18 927
35 381
9 019
47 805
2 893
2 675
152 390

State contribution (percentage)

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
22.1
11.0
30.3
11.7
18.0
4.3
1.3
100.0
Mining
9.3
2.1
34.2
2.4
44.9
2.2
3.9
100.0
Manufacturing
25.8
21.5
12.1
8.9
20.5
2.5
-
100.0
Construction
20.1
17.8
22.0
3.0
14.9
0.3
0.9
100.0
Wholesale trade
20.1
19.5
22.6
5.6
23.8
0.8
0.4
100.0
Retail trade
28.4
9.9
40.3
1.6
2.3
0.1
0.1
100.0
Transport and storage
15.4
19.1
12.6
7.4
19.9
0.9
0.3
100.0
Finance and insurance
16.7
24.4
5.7
2.1
46.5
0.5
0.5
100.0
Property and business services
26.3
6.2
7.9
19.2
32.4
0.3
. .
100.0
Other(b)
12.4
13.0
9.2
19.3
9.3
1.0
7.4
100.0
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries
4.7
3.7
16.2
1.2
55.9
0.6
0.2
100.0
Total goods exporters
17.6
12.4
23.2
5.9
31.4
1.9
1.8
100.0

. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Total goods exports includes ACT, re-exports and the value of exports for which state details are confidential.
(b) Includes goods exporters engaged in electricity, gas and water supply; communication services; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; health and community services; cultural and recreational services; personal and other services; education; and government administration and defence industries as well as those newly established businesses yet to confirm their main industry of activity with the Australian Taxation Office.


Table 8 shows the state distribution of goods exporting businesses by industry of exporter and the exporter's main state of business location (please see Explanatory Notes paragraph 9). State of location details are not available for the 3,100 (8%) goods exporters without an ABN.


Of the total goods exporting businesses with an ABN, 37% had their main state of business operations in New South Wales, 28% in Victoria, 17% in Queensland, 10% in Western Australia, 6% in South Australia and 1% in Tasmania.


TABLE 8: GOODS EXPORTERS by INDUSTRY of EXPORTER by MAIN STATE of LOCATION, 2005-06

NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
TOTAL(a)
Industry of exporter
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.

Goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
222
249
175
193
210
53
1 123
Mining
97
50
112
30
187
np
483
Manufacturing
3 414
3 275
1 714
822
906
117
10 358
Construction
350
243
232
39
149
14
1 042
Wholesale trade
4 863
3 518
1 836
508
940
49
11 834
Retail trade
1 533
1 101
820
186
430
33
4 205
Transport and storage
500
288
198
45
107
12
1 173
Finance and insurance
363
227
107
46
76
np
827
Property and business services
1 508
1 053
607
194
410
38
3 886
Other(b)
1 081
658
449
146
255
28
2 818
All goods exporters with an ABN
13 931
10 662
6 250
2 209
3 670
351
37 749
Goods exporters without an ABN
All industries(c)
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
3 100
Total goods exporters
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
40 849

. . not applicable
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Total includes ACT, NT and State not specified.
(b) Includes goods exporters engaged in electricity, gas and water supply; communication services; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; health and community services; cultural and recreational services; personal and other services; education; and government administration and defence industries as well as those newly established businesses yet to confirm their main industry of activity with the Australian Taxation Office.
(c) State of business location cannot be determined for exporters without an ABN.


Table 9 shows the state distribution of small goods exporting businesses by industry of exporter and the exporter's main state of business location. 16,837 (85%) of all small goods exporting businesses in 2005-06 had an ABN. Again, state of location details are not available for the 3,061 (15%) small goods exporting businesses without an ABN.


Of the small goods exporting businesses with an ABN, 36% had their main state of business operations in New South Wales, 26% in Victoria, 19% in Queensland, 10% in Western Australia, 6% in South Australia and 1% in Tasmania.


The industries with the highest number of small goods exporters were wholesale trade (5,189), manufacturing (3,840), retail trade (2,299) and property and business services (2,161). The contribution of each industry varied significantly between states with wholesale trade comprising 27% of all small goods exporting businesses in Western Australia and 14% in Tasmania; agriculture, forestry and fishing making up 14% of all small goods exporting businesses in Tasmania and 2% in New South Wales; and property and business services making up 18% of all small goods exporting businesses in Tasmania and 11% in South Australia.



TABLE 9: SMALL GOODS EXPORTERS by INDUSTRY of EXPORTER by MAIN STATE of LOCATION, 2005-06

NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
TOTAL(a)
Industry of exporter
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.

Small goods exporters with an ABN
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
112
126
105
107
97
22
583
Mining
37
13
34
20
60
np
165
Manufacturing
1 223
1 078
745
345
353
40
3 840
Construction
168
117
115
14
64
6
488
Wholesale trade
2 076
1 419
919
249
441
23
5 189
Retail trade
818
599
464
114
224
23
2 299
Transport and storage
191
117
92
20
41
np
478
Finance and insurance
112
90
47
14
29
np
295
Property and business services
805
572
389
125
215
28
2 161
Other(b)
540
342
247
79
134
11
1 339
All small goods exporters with an ABN
6 082
4 473
3 157
1 087
1 658
159
16 837
Small goods exporters without an ABN
All industries(c)
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
3 061
Total small goods exporters
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
19 898

. . not applicable
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Total includes ACT, NT and State not specified.
(b) Includes goods exporters engaged in electricity, gas and water supply; communication services; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; health and community services; cultural and recreational services; personal and other services; education; and government administration and defence industries as well as those newly established businesses yet to confirm their main industry of activity with the Australian Taxation Office.
(c) State of business location cannot be determined for exporters without an ABN.



SERVICES EXPORTERS

As shown in table 1, there were 2,513 services exporters in 2005-06. 26 services exporters with exports of $100m or more contributed 21% by value to total services exports in 2005-06.1,649 businesses exporting services with aggregate exports below $1m represented 66% of total services exporters.


As shown in table 10 the service types with the highest number of exporters in 2005-06 were other business services (1,719), royalties and licence fees (991), computer and information services (854) and personal, cultural and recreational services (698). Numbers of exporters cannot be estimated for travel, insurance, financial and government services as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to derive these exports.


The value of exports of travel services of $22.7b accounted for 54% of the total value of services exports in 2005-06. Other significant contributors were transportation services $8.3b (20%) and other business services $4.8b (12%).


Transportation services had the highest value of exports per business, averaging $98.7m per services exporter in 2005-06.


TABLE 10: SERVICES EXPORTERS and VALUE of EXPORTS by TYPE of SERVICE, 2005-06

Exporters(a)
Value of exports
Contribution to total value
Average service exports per business
2005-06
2005-06
2005-06
2005-06
Type of Service
no.
$m
%
$m

Transportation services
84
8 293
19.8
99
Travel services
na
22 692
54.1
na
Communication services
480
829
2.0
2
Construction services
259
135
0.3
1
Insurance services
na
704
1.7
na
Financial services
na
1 002
2.4
na
Computer and information services
854
1 168
2.8
1
Royalties and licence fees
991
765
1.8
1
Other business services
1 719
4 828
11.5
3
Personal, cultural and recreational services
698
659
1.6
1
Government services n.i.e.
na
874
2.1
na
Total services exporters(b)
2 513
41 949
100.0
na

na not available
(a) Businesses may export more than one type of service.
(b) Includes value of exports of travel, insurance, financial and government services. Numbers of exporters cannot be estimated for these service types as the Survey of International Trade in Services is not used to measure these exports.