• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

IMPORTS

• The total value of imports to Western Australia was 23% lower in the September quarter 2009 than in the September quarter 2008 ($6.6 billion compared with $8.6 billion).
• Contributing to the decrease in import values over this 12 month period was Non-monetary gold, which dropped from $2.3 billion to $1.3 billion (down 42%). However, Non-monetary gold continued to be the largest contributor to import values overall. Gold, in the form of leaf, foil, bullion and other fabricated gold products (including granules) is sent to Western Australia, where it is processed before exportation under a different commodity classification.
• Refined petroleum oils also contributed to the fall in import values. The import value of this commodity ($454 million) was 56% lower than for the September quarter 2008.

4 INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE(a), By major commodity
	2008	2009
	Sep qtr	June qtr	Sep qtr
Category of the SITC	$'000	$'000	$'000
MAJOR IMPORT COMMODITIES(b)
Gold, non-monetary	2 271 258	1 173 224	1 313 507
Crude petroleum oils	1 120 591	762 176	887 622
Refined petroleum oils	805 101	328 765	350 974
Passenger motor vehicles	392 695	246 051	309 662
Iron or steel tubes and pipes	102 592	231 616	211 014
Confidential items	307 137	196 710	163 233
Other specialised industry machinery and equipment	104 515	149 786	129 830
Motor vehicles for the transport of goods	318 124	94 817	129 017
Rubber tyres	87 348	77 187	91 711
Civil engineering plant and equipment	261 270	148 564	80 541
Ships, boats and floating structures	24 425	13 743	62 251
Automatic data processing machines	41 097	34 551	39 167
Fertilisers	210 783	168 289	11 046
Parts and accessories of office machines	6 122	8 570	5 910
Aircraft and associated equipment	138 687	4 258	4 143
Total imports(c)	8 582 869	6 451 487	6 596 022
(a) Care should be taken when comparing with commodities data prior to July 2005. For full details about changes to international trade statistics, users should refer to the Information Paper: Impact of introducing Revision 4 of the Standard International Trade Classification, 2008 (cat.no. 5368.0.55.10).
(b) Customs value.
(c) Includes categories not listed.
Source: ABS data available on request, International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia cat. no. 5368.0. In the September quarter 2009, Western Australia received by far its largest value ($1.3 billion) of imports from Thailand, mainly in Non-monetary gold. The next largest value went to Japan ($640 million) followed by the United States of America ($630 million). Imports from Thailand increased by $574 million ( almost 50%) between September 2008 and September 2009. Notable falls in import values from Singapore (down $622 million) and the United Kingdom (down $246 million) occurred over the same 12 month period. Based on the most recent trade figures, the United Kingdom is no longer among the "Top 10' countries from which goods are imported while Germany is a newcomer to this list.

5 INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE(a), Imports - Top 10 countries
	IMPORTS
	Sep qtr 2008	Jun qtr 2009	Sep qtr 2009
Country	$'000	$'000	$'000
Thailand	752 481	630 194	1 326 396
Japan	544 414	595 831	637 393
United States of America	872 723	789 773	626 909
China	543 779	563 178	532 503
United Arab Emirates	581 094	442 020	418 454
Singapore	965 732	411 410	343 513
Indonesia	430 069	349 992	316 567
Germany	314 040	236 843	277 595
Malaysia	345 561	328 150	277 446
Korea, Republic of	201 550	366 623	268 701
Total imports(b)	8 582 869	6 451 487	6 596 022
(a) Customs value.
(b) Includes countries not listed.
Source: ABS data available on request, International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat. no. 5368.0).