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11/2/2008 A feature article Export and Import Invoice Currencies will be released on Monday 11 February 2008.


4/2/2008 republished at 12:50 pm to correct an error in the pdf file and Time Series Table 16.
The period average Trade-weighted index for the December 2007 should be 68.2 instead of 64.6.


DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

	October 2007	November 2007	December 2007	Nov 07 to Dec 07
	$m	$m	$m	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
Balance on goods and services	-2 166	-2 261	-2 293	. .
Credits (exports of goods & services)	18 068	18 130	18 237	1
Debits (imports of goods & services)	20 233	20 391	20 529	1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
Balance on goods and services	-2 826	-2 162	-1 936	. .
Credits (exports of goods & services)	17 437	18 367	18 606	1
Debits (imports of goods & services)	20 263	20 529	20 541	-
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Balance on Goods and Services

• The provisional trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $2,293m in December 2007, an increase of $32m on the revised deficit in November.
• Goods and services credits rose $107m (1%) to $18,237m. Goods and services debits rose $138m (1%) to $20,529m.

• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $1,936m in December, a decrease of $226m on the revised deficit in November.
• Goods and services credits rose $239m (1%) to $18,606m. Rural goods rose $178m (9%) and non-rural and other goods rose $39m. Services credits rose $22m (1%).
• Goods and services debits rose $12m to $20,541m. Capital goods rose $105m (3%) and consumption goods rose $60m (1%) while intermediate and other goods fell $215m (3%). Services debits rose $63m (2%).

• In original terms, the December 2007 balance on goods and services was a deficit of $530m, a decrease of $2,743m on the revised deficit in November. Goods and services credits rose $1,318m (7%) and goods and services debits fell $1,425m (7%).
• In the six months to December, exports of non-rural and other goods were up $1,249m (2%) while rural goods were down $1,464m (11%) on the corresponding period in 2006-07.

• decreased the deficit on goods and services for November 2007 by $76m
• decreased the deficit on good and services for 2006-07 by $20m.

FEATURE ARTICLE

A feature article Import and Export Invoice Currencies, 2007 is scheduled for release on 11 February 2008 and can be accessed on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au> from the summary page for this issue. This article analyses the major invoice currencies used for Australia's international merchandise trade. It identifies compositional changes in the currencies used to invoice goods imported into and exported from Australia during the five quarters from December quarter 2006 to December quarter 2007. The article also examines invoice currencies by selected divisions of the Standard International Trade Classification Revision 3 (SITC Rev3). Historical comparisons for calendar based year ends for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 examine invoicing trends over the past four years.

Similar analyses appeared in the March quarter 1998, March quarter 2001 and March quarter 2003 releases of the discontinued publication International Merchandise Trade, Australia (cat. no. 5422.0). The last analysis appeared as a feature article in the June 2005 release of 5368.0. The June 2005 article is available on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au>.

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.