International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia

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Statistics about international trade in goods and services, on a balance of payments and international trade basis.

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Reference period
August 2023
Released
5/10/2023
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Key statistics

  • The seasonally adjusted balance on goods and services surplus increased $2,316m in August. 
  • Goods and services credits (exports) rose $2,135m (4.0%) driven by Non-monetary gold. 
  • Goods and services debits (imports) fell $179m (0.4%) driven by Industrial transport equipment n.e.s.

Cessation of monthly International Trade in Services statistics

The ABS reviews and makes changes to the Forward Work Program to ensure it continues to appropriately measure the Australian economy, environment and society. As outlined in the ABS Corporate Plan, the increasing appreciation of the value of data is generating significant additional demand for services of the ABS. As the growth in opportunities exceeds the capacity of the ABS, statistical outputs are prioritised. As a result of prioritisation, International Trade in Services data will no longer be available in this monthly publication, from the September 2023 reference month release.

International Trade in Services data will continue to be available quarterly in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia publication.

For details on the upcoming publication changes, see the attached article, Upcoming changes to the International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia publication.

A guide for users to compile monthly international trade in services estimates is available, see the attached article, Monthly International Trade in Services compilation guide. 

Trade overview

Key Figures, Seasonally Adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)
Balance on goods and services9,8587,3249,6402,316na
 Credits (Exports of goods & services)54,55153,55555,6902,1354.0
 Debits (Imports of goods & services)-44,693-46,230-46,051-179-0.4

na not applicable

Balance on goods and services

In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $9,640m in August 2023, an increase of $2,316m on the July 2023 surplus.

Balance on goods and services(a), seasonally adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)

Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)

Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)

Balance on goods and services9,8587,3249,6402,316na
 Total goods and services credits54,55153,55555,6902,1354.0
  Total goods credits45,13044,19246,1851,9934.5
  Total services credits9,4219,3639,5061431.5
 Total goods and services debits-44,693-46,230-46,051-179-0.4
  Total goods debits-35,034-36,150-35,805-345-1.0
  Total services debits-9,659-10,080-10,2461661.6

na not applicable

  1. For sign conventions, see the methodology page.

Goods and services credits

  1. Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets for this period.
Goods credits, seasonally adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)
Total goods credits45,13044,19246,1851,9934.5
 General merchandise42,14242,15642,195390.1
  Rural goods5,7546,1786,020-158-2.6
  Non-rural goods36,38835,97836,1751970.5
 Net exports of goods under merchanting(a)171413-1-7.1
 Non-monetary gold(a)2,9712,0223,9771,95596.7
  1. This component is not seasonally adjusted.

Rural goods

Non-rural goods

Services credits, seasonally adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)
Total services credits9,4219,3639,5061431.5
 Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others(a)-----
 Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.(a)122--
 Transport61158959891.5
  Passenger(b)22422423062.7
  Freight(c)32333413.0
  Other21320820910.5
  Postal and courier services(d)14212412510.8
 Travel5,7805,7095,8231142.0
 Other services3,0293,0633,083200.7
Memorandum item     
 Tourism related services credits(e)6,0045,9336,0531202.0

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

  1. This component is not seasonally adjusted.
  2. Passenger transportation services includes agency fees and commissions for air transport.
  3. In using these seasonally adjusted series, care should be exercised because of the difficulties associated with reliably estimating the seasonal pattern.
  4. Postal and courier services includes indirect commissions for sea transport.
  5. For a more detailed explanation of tourism related services, see the methodology page.

Goods and services debits

  1. Large month-to-month changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in multiple trend breaks. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets for this period.
Goods debits(a), seasonally adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)
Total goods debits-35,034-36,150-35,805-345-1.0
 General merchandise debits-34,067-35,081-35,2091280.4
  Consumption goods-10,834-11,621-11,8161951.7
  Capital goods-8,789-9,237-8,146-1,091-11.8
  Intermediate and other merchandise goods-14,443-14,223-15,2471,0247.2
 Non-monetary gold(b)-967-1,069-596-473-44.2
  1. For sign conventions, see the methodology page.
  2. This component is not seasonally adjusted.

Consumption goods

Capital goods

Intermediate and other merchandise goods

Services debits(a), seasonally adjusted
 Jun-23 ($m)Jul-23 ($m)Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 ($m)Jul-23 to Aug-23 (%)
Total services debits-9,659-10,080-10,2461661.6
 Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others(b)-----
 Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.(b)-40-63-58-5-7.9
 Transport-2,286-2,273-2,246-27-1.2
  Passenger(c)-773-811-808-3-0.4
  Freight-1,431-1,388-1,364-24-1.7
  Other(b)-52-52-52--
  Postal and courier services(d)(e)-31-21-2214.8
 Travel(f)-3,639-4,003-4,1921894.7
 Other services-3,695-3,741-3,751100.3
Memorandum item     
 Tourism related services debits(g)-4,412-4,814-5,0001863.9

- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

  1. For sign conventions, see the methodology page.
  2. This component is not seasonally adjusted.
  3. Passenger services includes agency fees and commissions for air transport.
  4. Postal and courier services includes indirect commissions for sea transport.
  5. In using these seasonally adjusted series, care should be exercised because of the difficulties associated with reliably estimating the seasonal pattern.
  6. Monthly estimates of Travel Service debits are now labelled preliminary.
  7. For a more detailed explanation of tourism related services, see the methodology page.

Monthly Travel Services debits (imports) estimates now labelled as preliminary

The ABS is now labelling the monthly estimates of Travel Service debits as preliminary.

Recent changes in traveller spending patterns has increased the uncertainty of monthly Travel Service debit estimates. With this comes a higher risk of revisions. Please use caution when interpreting the preliminary estimates particularly estimates for the latest month.   

The ABS calculates monthly estimates by using:

Quarterly travel services debits published in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia and the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product are unaffected as all the data sources are available in time for publishing these estimates.

For more information about the compilation of monthly and quarterly Travel Services please see Enhancing Trade in Services quarterly statistics | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)

Supplementary information

Selected commodities

Value adjustments

Revisions

Confidential Commodities List

COVID-19 in this publication

Data downloads

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Time series spreadsheets

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Data Cubes

Data files

  • Table 18. Balance of payments broad economic categories (detailed level), by country, latest 7 months, customs value, ($million)

    Download xlsx [262.24 KB]

  • Table 19. Balance of payments broad economic categories (1 and 2 digit), by country, latest 7 months, customs value, ($million)

    Download xlsx [160.93 KB]

The ABS will no longer publish Tables 9 and 10, from the September 2023 reference month.

Create your own tables and visualisations with Data Explorer

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

Data explorer for the monthly trade in goods and services.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5368.0.

Methodology

International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia methodology, August 2023

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