In China’s meteoric rise as an industrial power, that would see it become “The World’s Factory”, it has increasingly relied on imports of raw materials, particularly from Australia.
Over time, this has seen the level of Australian resources exports absolutely skyrocket. In inflation-adjusted 2024 dollars, they have risen from under $100 billion a year in 2004 to a peak of almost half a trillion in 2022-23.
At a per capita level, inflation-adjusted exports have gone from $4,000 per year per person in 2000, to a peak of over $19,000 per person in 2022-23.
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