JANUARY KEY FIGURES

		Nov 2010	Dec 2010	Jan 2011	Dec 10 to Jan 11
		$m	$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES
	Trend estimates	2 278	2 277	2 386	. .
	Seasonally adjusted	2 012	2 018	1 875	. .
CREDITS (Exports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	24 450	24 395	24 469	-
	Seasonally adjusted	24 411	24 642	23 639	-4
DEBITS (Imports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	22 172	22 118	22 083	-
	Seasonally adjusted	22 400	22 624	21 764	-4
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Balance on Goods and Services

JANUARY KEY POINTS


BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES

• The trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $2,386m in January 2011, an increase of $109m on the surplus in December 2010.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $1,875m in January 2011, a decrease of $143m on the surplus in December 2010.

CREDITS (EXPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits fell $1,003m (4%) to $23,639m. Non-rural goods fell $1,403m (8%) and rural goods fell $37m (2%). Non-monetary gold rose $422m (38%) and net exports of goods under merchanting rose $5m. Services credits rose $10m.

DEBITS (IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services debits fell $860m (4%) to $21,764m. Intermediate and other merchandise goods fell $904m (11%), non-monetary gold fell $102m (26%) and consumption goods fell $79m (1%). Capital goods rose $128m (3%). Services debits rose $98m (2%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
February 2011	5 April 2011
March 2011	10 May 2011
April 2011	2 June 2011
May 2011	5 July 2011
June 2011	3 August 2011
July 2011	8 September 2011

REVISIONS

Revisions have been made to incorporate the latest data relating to international merchandise trade. In the balance of payments series, a $5m revision has been applied to 2009-10. The revised data aligns with the data published in the December quarter 2010 issues of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (cat. no. 5302.0) and the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0). There were no other revisions to the balance of payments basis series in original terms.


IRON ORE AND COAL PRICES

An adjustment has been made to the value of the 'metal ores and minerals' component in the balance of payments series. See the section Commodity prices adjustment for details.


RELATED PUBLICATIONS

The following publications due for release are detailed in the Related publications section:

• Concepts, Sources and Methods Publication
• Information paper: Proposed changes to statistical codes in the AHECC, 2012
• Characteristics of Australian Exporters, 2009-10.

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

Statistical codes in the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification and the Customs Tariff classification have been revised with the new codes that came into effect on 1 January 2011. See the section Changes in this issue for details.


IMPACT OF THE FLOODS

The collection and processing of data included in this publication were not disrupted. See the section Impact of the floods for details.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for Goods, and Lee Taylor on Canberra (02) 6252 6377 for Services.