APRIL KEY FIGURES

		Feb 2010	Mar 2010	Apr 2010	Mar 10 to Apr 10
		$m	$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES(a)
	Trend estimates	-1 507	-1 424	-502	. .
	Seasonally adjusted	-1 641	-2 040	134	. .
CREDITS (Exports of goods & services)(a)
	Trend estimates	20 470	20 786	21 942	. .
	Seasonally adjusted	20 183	20 470	22 661	11
DEBITS (Imports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	21 977	22 210	22 444	1
	Seasonally adjusted	21 825	22 510	22 527	-
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) A trend break of $800m was applied between March and April 2010. See page 2 'Iron ore prices' for details.

Balance on Goods and Services

APRIL KEY POINTS


BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES

• The trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $502m in April 2010. A trend break of $800m was applied between March and April 2010.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $134m in April 2010, a turnaround of $2,174m on the revised deficit in March 2010.

CREDITS (EXPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits rose $2,191m (11%) to $22,661m. Non-rural goods rose $2,292m (18%) and net exports of goods under merchanting rose $15m (65%). Rural goods fell $67m (3%), non-monetary gold fell $48m (4%) and services credits fell $1m.

DEBITS (IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services debits rose $17m to $22,527m. Non-monetary gold rose $299m (50%), consumption goods rose $151m (3%), and capital goods rose $30m (1%). Intermediate and other merchandise goods fell $439m (6%) and services debits fell $24m.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
May 2010	6 July 2010
June 2010	4 August 2010
July 2010	2 September 2010
August 2010	5 October 2010
September 2010	4 November 2010
October 2010	2 December 2010

REVISIONS

Revisions have been made to incorporate the latest available data relating to merchandise trade. There were no revisions to the balance of payments series in original terms.


IRON ORE PRICES

In the merchandise trade series used to compile goods credits, the value of iron ore and concentrates increased by 32% between March and April 2010 with volumes up 2% and prices up 29%. Since the price increase impact is likely to result in a permanent change in the level of the series (at least for the duration of the new contracts), a trend break correction of $800m has been applied in April 2010 to metal ores and minerals and related aggregates. As a minimum of three months are required for a trend break correction to be accurately estimated, the size of the trend break may be revised. Therefore, users should interpret the trend estimates for recent months with caution.


CHANGES IN FORTHCOMING ISSUES

The May 2010 issue of this publication and the June quarter 2010 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0) will introduce a change of treatment for the civil aircraft component. A new component 'Civil aircraft and confidentialised items' will be introduced. It will include Civil aircraft for all periods, and from July 2008 will include all commodities subject to a 'no commodity details' or 'no value details' restriction. This change will affect the statistics presented in Capital goods n.e.s. from December 2008 and Other merchandise goods for July and August 2008, but will not revise the total value of goods debits.

All civil aircraft have been confidentialised since December 2008, and therefore the components making up the 'Civil aircraft and confidentialised items' series will not be available at a lower level on a balance of payments basis.


CALENDER YEAR TRADE IN SERVICES DATA CUBES

Calender Year Trade in Services data cubes (cat. no. 5368.0.55.004) were released on 14 May 2010.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Olivia Lam on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for Goods, and Andrew Tomadini on Canberra (02) 6252 7094 for Services.