It is difficult to get a complete picture of Tasmania’s imports because only those goods imported directly into Tasmania from overseas are currently recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It is known that significant amounts of consumer goods, and raw materials for input into manufacturing processes, are imported from interstate, and are thus not recorded by the ABS as Tasmanian imports.
The most valuable import category in 2005-06 was pulp and waste paper, which accounted for 11.6% of the total. Cocoa was second, accounting for 8.9% of imports.
VALUE OF SELECTED OVERSEAS IMPORTS(a)(b)(c)
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| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | Change from
2004-05 |
| | | |
Commodity | $’000 | $’000 | % |
|
Pulp and waste paper | 47,684 | 60,113 | 26.1 |
Cocoa | 52,158 | 46,075 | -11.7 |
General industrial machinery and equipment and machine parts | 41,802 | 42,597 | 1.9 |
Power generating machinery and equipment | 38,750 | 33,290 | -14.1 |
Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials | 46,412 | 30,321 | -34.7 |
Electrical machinery and appliances | 42,438 | 29,116 | -31.4 |
Road vehicles | 21,770 | 23,738 | 9.0 |
Machinery specilised for particular industries | 20,755 | 22,668 | 9.2 |
Iron and steel | 7,870 | 17,768 | 125.8 |
Fertilisers (excluding crude) | 14,900 | 17,645 | 18.4 |
Other and confidential | 265,932 | 192,825 | -27.5 |
Total | 600,471 | 516,156 | -14.0 |
(a) The value for import duty purposes determined by Customs. The primary basis for its establishment is the price actually paid or payable, provided a number of conditions are met. The most important is that the buyer and seller must be independent. If these conditions are not met World Trade Organization (WTO) rules are used to determine the Customs value.
(b) Includes the top 10 overseas import commodities to Tasmania by value.
(c) Imported commodities subject to confidentiality restrictions are included in other and confidential (for more information see International Merchandise Trade, Australia, Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5489.0) and International Merchandise Trade: Confidential Commodities List (cat. no.5372.0.55.001).
Source: ABS data available on request.
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