CHANGES IN THIS AND FORTHCOMING ISSUES


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

IMPROVEMENT TO SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT OF CURRENT PRICE VALUE COAL SERIES

An improvement has been applied to both the monthly and quarterly 'coal, coke and briquettes' current price value series (seasonally adjusted). For the quarterly series (included in Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0)), from July 2005 onwards, seasonal factors used to construct the corresponding chain volume series have been applied to the current price coal estimates in original terms to derive the seasonally adjusted series. Although chain volume measures are not available on a monthly basis, a similar method is being used to create the monthly current price value seasonally adjusted series. As a result of this methodological improvement, trend break corrections previously applied to the 'coal, coke and briquettes' trend series have been removed. A length-of-month adjustment continues to be applied to seasonally adjust the 'coal, coke and briquettes' component prior to July 2005. This change in methodology will be closely monitored as part of an ongoing improvement program.

UPDATES TO THE MAJOR COMMODITIES LISTING

Tables 12 and 13 of this publication present the major commodities for international merchandise trade exports (table 12) and imports (table 13). As part of an annual review, the major commodities for the last 12 months are identified and the lists updated as appropriate. There were no changes required for the major commodities exports listing (table 12).

In table 13, International merchandise imports major commodities:

• 625 Rubber tyres, treads, flaps and inner tubes for wheels

replaces:

• 761 Televisions, monitors and projectors.

CHANGE TO DATA ITEM DESCRIPTION FOR STANDARD INTERNATIONAL TRADE CLASSIFICATION (SITC) CODE 289

The data item description of SITC code 289 has been changed from 'Ores and concentrates of precious metals and waste, scrap and sweepings of precious metals (excl. of gold)' to 'Ores and concentrates of precious metals; waste, scrap and sweepings of precious metals (excl. of gold)'. This is to clarify that gold ores and concentrates are included in SITC 289. Waste, scrap and sweepings of gold are included in SITC 971, 'Gold, non-monetary (excl. gold ores and concentrates)'. This will only impact the data item description for the detailed data available from the Information and Referral Service and the data presented in the following Time Series Spreadsheets available on the ABS website with this publication:

• Series ID: A1828438R - Table 12b MERCHANDISE EXPORTS, Standard International Trade Classification (3 digit), FOB Value; and
• Series ID: A1828796R - Table 13b MERCHANDISE IMPORTS, Standard International Trade Classification (3 digit), Customs Value.

AUSTRALIAN HARMONIZED EXPORT COMMODITY CLASSIFICATION (AHECC) CODES FOR 1 JULY 2012

The ABS implements minor updates to the statistical codes of the AHECC on 1 January and 1 July each year. There are no changes to AHECC codes for 1 July 2012.

AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS TARIFF CODES FOR 1 JULY 2012

On 1 July 2012, there were changes to statistical codes under subheadings 0406.40.10, 8443.31.00, 8443.32.00, 8471.30.00, 8471.60.00 and 8528.72.00 in the Customs Tariff, which can be found on the Australian Customs and Border Protection website at http://www.customs.gov.au/tariff/tariff2012.asp.

A list of the new codes and their correspondences to previous codes can be found on the Australian Customs and Border Protection Notice No. 2012/31 which was released on 25 June 2012. The notice can be found on the Australian Customs and Border Protection website http://www.customs.gov.au. From the menu select
media, publications and forms and then customs notices, then select the link Australian Customs Notices and follow the link 2012/31. Alternatively you can access this notice directly through the following link http://www.customs.gov.au/notices/acn/default.asp.

Separate statistical codes for Roquefort and Stilton cheeses in Chapter 4 have been introduced to support food inspection requirements of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

The changes to the statistical codes for Chapters 84 and 85 facilitate the clearer identification of multifunction devices, laptops / other portable computers, scanners and televisions and will assist in the administration of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Regulations 2011). The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is responsible for providing regulatory oversight of the Scheme.

AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING CUSTOMS TARIFF CODE CORRESPONDENCES

Changes have been made to Customs Tariff correspondences. These changes rectify errors in the correspondences published in the Information paper: Changes to AHECC and Customs Tariff, 2012 (cat. no. 5368.0.55.017) released on 8 December 2011.

The following are the correct correspondences for the Customs Tariff 2012 codes commencing with 8523.29.00.

	Customs Tariff 2011	Customs Tariff 2012
	8523290001	8523290081
	8523290009	8523290081
	8523290021	8523290082
	8523290022	8523290082
	8523290023	8523290083
	8523290024	8523290083
	8523290029	8523290083
	8523290030	8523290084
	8523290031	8523290084
	8523290035	8523290084
	8523290036	8523290084
	8523290041	8523290085
	8523290042	8523290085
	8523290043	8523290085
	8523290049	8523290085
	8523290051	8523290086
	8523290052	8523290086
	8523290053	8523290086
	8523290061	8523290087
	8523290062	8523290087
	8523290071	8523290087
	8523290079	8523290087
	8523290080	8523290087
	8523290092	8523290088
	8523290093	8523290088
	8523290095	8523290088

There were changes to the free standing descriptors for the following codes: 7210300050, 7210300051, 7210300052, 7210610060, 7210610061 and 7210610062.

A full correspondence is available from the Classification Manager, International Trade.

Email: international.trade@abs.gov.au alternatively phone: (02) 6252 5409 or fax: (02) 6252 8003.

These changes also impact correspondences to ANZSIC 2006 and BoPBEC classifications for the following codes. SITC and BEC correspondences are not impacted.

		Current correspondence		Revised correspondence
	Customs Tariff code	ANZSIC 2006	BoPBEC	ANZSIC 2006	BoPBEC
	8523290081	2429	CE04	2429	CE04
	8523290082	2429	CE04	2429	CE04
	8523290083	1620	CE05	2429	CE04
	8523290084	1620	CE05	2429	CE04
	8523290085	1620	CE05	2429	CE04
	8523290086	2429	CE04	1620	CE05
	8523290087	2429	CE04	1620	CE05
	8523290088	2429	CE04	1620	CE05

These changes will result in the ANZSIC 2006 and BoPBEC series being revised back to January 2012. The revisions will be reflected in the following time series released with this issue:

• Table 34 - Merchandise imports by Balance of Payments Broad Economic Categories (BoPBEC)
• Table 35a - Merchandise imports, Industry (ANZSIC 2006), Customs Value - from July 2005 onward.

CHANGES IN FORTHCOMING ISSUES

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED AND TREND ESTIMATES

The seasonally adjusted and trend estimates of goods and services on a balance of payments basis will be reviewed in the August 2012 issue of this publication as a result of the annual seasonal re-analysis. This re-analysis reviews the seasonal and trading day factors and assesses the appropriateness of any prior corrections.