MAY KEY FIGURES

	March 2008	April 2008	May 2008
	$m	$m	$m
Food and live animals	579	635	683
Beverages and tobacco	111	116	116
Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	190	196	224
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	2 777	2 830	3 297
Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	28	38	59
Chemicals and related products, nes	1 855	2 080	1 976
Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	1 643	1 830	1 902
Machinery and transport equipment	7 142	6 972	7 106
Miscellaneous manufactured articles	1 791	2 025	2 052
Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC	590	772	808
TOTAL	16 707	17 493	18 223

MAY KEY POINTS


ORIGINAL ESTIMATES

• In original terms, the May 2008 merchandise imports were $18,223m, an increase of $730m (4%) on the revised April 2008 merchandise imports of $17,493m.

PRELIMINARY BALANCE OF PAYMENTS GOODS IMPORTS

• Preliminary analysis shows that goods imports (debits) on a balance of payments basis increased by $1,251m (7%) in seasonally adjusted terms between April and May 2008. Intermediate and other merchandise goods rose $803m (10%) with fuels and lubricants up $466m (17%) and processed industrial supplies n.e.s. up $223m (13%). Consumption goods rose $386m (8%) with non-industrial transport equipment increasing $166m (12%) and consumption goods n.e.s. up $113m (8%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
June 2008	17 July 2008
July 2008	19 August 2008
August 2008	17 September 2008
September 2008	20 October 2008
October 2008	18 November 2008
November 2008	17 December 2008

INTRODUCTION

This publication presents statistics of Australia's merchandise imports classified according to the broadest level (1 digit sections) of the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification. The data are compiled from information submitted by importers or their agents to the Australian Customs Service. For more details see International Merchandise Trade, Australia: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5489.0) on the ABS web site. More detailed merchandise imports data are available on the ABS web site www.abs.gov.au from the Details tab of this issue or by contacting the National Information and Referral Service.

INFORMATION PAPER

An information paper Impact of introducing Revision 4 of the Standard International Trade Classification (cat. no. 5368.0.55.010) was released on 26 May 2008. The paper outlines statistical impacts resulting from changes to the classification of Australian import and export statistics. This information paper can be accessed on the ABS web site www.abs.gov.au. The ABS will implement the changes to the classifications from the July 2008 reference month. This will impact on data released in this and related publications.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540.