China, Australia trade increases in 2012

By ( Xinhua )

Updated: 2013-08-13

CANBERRA -- Australian families are large beneficiaries of the country's strengthening two-way trade with its largest trading partner, China, a new report by the Australian China Business Council (ACBC) shows.

Local newspaper Business Spectator quoted the report as saying on Wednesday that each Australian household gets benefit of around AU$14,480 ($13,300) a year from Australian trade with China, up by more than 50 percent in five years.

The report shows that in 2012, Australia imported AU$46 billion ( $42 billion) worth of goods and services from China and exported nearly AU$80 billion (73.6 billion).

Australia's main exports to China are iron ore, AU$38.6 billion ($35.5 billion), coal, AU$6.8 billion ($6.26 billion), and gold, AU$5.5 billion ($5.06 billion), with gold growing at a tremendous rate over the past six years. Liquefied National Gas (LNG) exports to China began in 2006 and have increased by 700 percent in six years.

The country's Australia's services trade, including tourism, finance and insurance, education, has ballooned to AU$7 billion ($6.4 billion) since diplomatic recognition in 1972. Service exports from Australia of AU$5.7 billion ($5.2 billion) now exceed the AU$5.2 billion ($4.78 billion) from the United States to China.

And Chinese visitors to Australia spent AU$4.2 billion ($3.8 billion) in 2012 and they are staying longer and spending more with Asia expected to contribute more than half of the growth in international tourists in the decade up until 2020, and 42 percent are expected to come from China.

China's investment in Australia totals about AU$23 billion ($21.16 billion), 1.1 percent of the total stock of foreign investments in Australia.

ACBC,a chief advisor to the Australian government on commercial relations with China, commissioned the report to underline the value to average households of the benefit of exports and imports with China.