The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released trade data for the month of April, with Australia recording a seasonally-adjusted trade deficit of $122 million. The result missed analyst’s expectations, who had expected a trade surplus of $510 million.
It was the first monthly trade deficit in 5 months and followed the $902 million surplus recorded in March (revised up from $731 million) and the $1,729 million surplus recorded in February (revised up from $1,257 million). The next chart shows the monthly breakdown. As you can see, there was a -$1,024 million turnaround from the prior month’s result:
In seasonally adjusted terms, exports fell $421 million (1%) to $28,497 million, whereas imports rose by a $604 million (2%) to $28,619 million on the back of a $399 million (8%) increase in capital goods and a $192 million (3%) increase in consumer goods.
Australia’s biggest export commodity – iron ore (29.8% share) – rose by $416 million in April in raw terms to $6,914 million. By contrast, Australia’s second, third and fourth biggest exports – coal (14.0 share%), gas (6.2% share), and gold (4.5% share) – fell by $92 million, $72 million, and $120 million respectively (see next chart).
Exports to China – Australia’s biggest market – rose by $373 million to $9,148 million in raw terms, with its share of total exports also hitting a record 39.5%. However, exports to our second, third and fourth biggest markets – Japan (16.8% share) and Korea (7.5% share), and India (2.7% share) – all fell by $493 million, $135 million and $6 million respectively (see next chart).
As always, Western Australia dominated the nation’s exports. It alone accounted for 49% of Australia’s merchandise exports in April, although the state’s exports fell by 5% to a record $11,364 million in raw terms (see below chart).
Similarly, 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 (see next chart).
Finally, Australia’s services trade balance worsened in April (-$79 million in seasonally-adjusted terms), driven by rising net tourism exports (-$32 million):
