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APRIL KEY FIGURES

	February 2012	March 2012	April 2012
	$m	$m	$m
Food and live animals	735	719	712
Beverages and tobacco	146	134	147
Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	180	188	255
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	3 208	3 920	3 241
Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	39	58	45
Chemicals and related products, nes	1 854	2 212	1 944
Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	1 895	1 846	1 951
Machinery and transport equipment	6 759	8 617	7 503
Miscellaneous manufactured articles	2 097	2 241	2 139
Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC	993	858	876
TOTAL	17 904	20 793	18 814

• In original terms, the April 2012 merchandise imports were $18,814m, a decrease of $1,979m (10%) on the March 2012 merchandise imports of $20,793m.

• Preliminary analysis shows that goods debits (imports) on a balance of payments basis in original terms fell $1,039m (5%) between March 2012 and April 2012. In seasonally adjusted terms, goods debits fell $318m (1%) from $21,245m in March 2012 to $20,927m in April 2012. Intermediate and other merchandise goods fell $453m (5%), driven by the fuels and lubricants component, down $701m (19%). Capital goods rose $103m (2%) and consumption goods rose $75m (1%). Non-monetary gold fell $43m (10%).
• The March quarter 2012 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0) and the April 2012 issue of International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat. no. 5368.0) will include goods debits estimates that have been revised since the March 2012 issue of International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia which was released on 8 May 2012. These revisions reflect information recently obtained after the release of this issue.

• Revisions have been made to the previous six months to incorporate the latest administrative data relating to international merchandise trade.