The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released trade data for the month of February, with Australia recording a seasonally-adjusted trade surplus of $1,200 million. The result beat analyst’s expectations, which had expected a trade surplus of $800 million.
It was the 3rd monthly trade surplus in a row and followed the $1,392 million surplus recorded in January (revised down from $1,433 million) and the $469 million surplus recorded in December (revised down from $591 million). The next chart shows the monthly breakdown:
In seasonally adjusted terms, exports rose $120 million to $29,970m, whereas imports rose $312m to $28,770 million, driven mostly by a $791 million increases in capital goods.
Australia’s biggest export commodity – iron ore (28.5% share) – rose by $150 million in February in raw terms. By contrast, Australia’s second biggest export – coal (14 share%) fell by $286 million, as did Australia’s third and fourth biggest export commodities – gas (6% share) and gold (5% share) – which fell by $168 million and $137 million respectively (see next chart).
Exports to China – Australia’s biggest market – fell by $53 million (to $8,178 million) in raw terms, with its share of total exports at 36%. Exports to the second biggest market – Japan (18% share) – rose by $23 million, as did exports to India – Australia’s fourth biggest export market (3% share) – which rose by $157 million. By contrast, exports to Korea – Australia’s third biggest market (8% share) – fell by $37 million in February (see next chart).
As always, Western Australia dominated the nation’s exports. It alone accounted for 50% of Australia’s merchandise exports in February, despite its exports falling by 1% over the month in raw terms. By contrast, exports from Queensland rose by 9% (see below chart).
As always, Western Australia continues to be the state driving the nation’s trade surplus, although Queensland and South Australia are also more or less paying their way. By contrast, Victoria and New South Wales remain heavily in deficit:
Finally, Australia’s services trade balance deteriorated marginally in February (-$13 million in seasonally-adjusted terms), with net tourism exports also recording a small fall (-$19 million):
In the March quarter to date, the trade surplus totals $2.6 billion. This is a sharp improvement from the deficit of $181 million in the December quarter, which will support March quarter GDP.
