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Murrumbateman, NSW 2582, Australia
Australia is a globally integrated, resource-rich economy with a competitive services sector and extensive trade ties, particularly across the Asia-Pacific. International trade remains a cornerstone of Australia's economic performance, with goods and services trade amounting to a significant share of GDP. Australia’s export profile is dominated by mineral and energy commodities, alongside agricultural products and an increasingly dynamic services sector. On the import side, the country relies heavily on high-value manufactured goods, capital equipment, and advanced services. Australia’s major trading partners include China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and India, with China maintaining its position as both the largest export destination and import source.
Australia's trade profile in 2024 reflects the country's strong and evolving international economic engagement. A key structural shift over the past two decades has been the growing prominence of services within the domestic economy. Services now comprise approximately 80% of Australian production, up from 72.8% in the mid-1990s, with a similar rise in the proportion of intermediate inputs sourced from services.
In 2024, Australia recorded a balance on goods and services surplus of AUD 30.2 billion. Merchandise trade data reported a trade surplus of between USD 44.37 billion and USD 57.3 billion, depending on the data source. Exports were valued at around USD 340.9 billion, while imports ranged between USD 283.6 billion and USD 296.5 billion.
Australia’s export performance is underpinned by its rich endowment of natural resources and strong agricultural capacity. In 2024, goods exports reached US$340.85 billion (approximately A$511 billion), reflecting global demand for Australian commodities and favourable terms of trade. The top goods exports included:
Collectively, iron ore, coal, and LNG account for nearly half of Australia’s total export value. These exports are highly dependent on demand from East Asia and global commodity price cycles. For instance, coal exports fell 28% in 2023–24 due to price declines. Meanwhile, rural exports rose in early 2025, with meat and cereal exports increasing by over 25%.
Goods imports reached US$296.48 billion in 2024, driven largely by Australia’s reliance on overseas suppliers for consumer goods, vehicles, industrial equipment, and refined fuels. Major imports included:
Top import categories:
Imports reflect Australia's limited manufacturing base, with high reliance on foreign production of vehicles, electronics, and industrial goods. Capital goods imports grew 7.5% in April 2025, while intermediate goods like fuels fell due to easing energy prices.
Services exports rose to A$124 billion in 2023–24, or about 19% of total exports:
Service exports are highly concentrated in travel-related services, underpinned by Australia’s quality education system and natural attractions. Exports exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 12% in 2023.
Services imports rose to A$164.6 billion in 2024, driven by Australians’ spending abroad:
Australia has a persistent services trade deficit, particularly in travel. Following the pandemic, travel imports surged by 47% in 2023-24 as Australians resumed international holidays, especially to Indonesia, New Zealand, and Europe. Meanwhile, payments for foreign IP and consulting services reflect Australia’s integration into global business networks.
Australia's export trade has increasingly oriented towards fast-growing Asian economies since the late 1960s, including Japan, South Korea, and later Mainland China. In 2009, Mainland China overtook Japan to become Australia's largest trading partner, primarily due to its strong demand for natural resources
Top merchandise export destinations (2024):
Exports to China fell in 2024, but services exports to China rose nearly 21%, reflecting post-pandemic education and tourism recovery.
Imports are also Asia-centric but more diversified across consumer and capital goods.
Top merchandise import sources (2024):
For services imports, the US accounted for 25.2% in 2024, with major imports in software, licensing, and business services. Indonesia and New Zealand were key sources of travel service imports, due to their popularity with Australian tourists.
Australia’s trade profile in 2025 highlights a resource-driven export economy and a consumption-driven import economy, deeply tied to the Asia-Pacific. Exports are concentrated in commodities and education services, while imports are centred on high-value manufactures, fuel, and outbound travel.
Sources: ABS. (2024). International Trade: Supplementary Information.
Even jobs you’d think are 100 percent Australian rely on our international trade and investment. Our health care professionals rely on a lot of technology, treatment methods and drugs imported from overseas. Our teachers use computers and classroom materials often sourced from other countries and teaching methods developed in classrooms around the world. Our police drive patrol cars built overseas.
Australia’s international trade and investment relationships also give us access to an array of ideas and information that we generally take for granted. Books, movies, music, computer programs, medical procedures, industrial designs– Australians contribute to, and take from, the huge global market for these ideas. Australia’s trade in intellectual property has a major impact on our way of life.
There can be negative consequences from our reliance on international trade and investment. When our trade partners unfairly block our exports, Australian businesses can lose sales and suffer financially. Equally, were the Australian Government to unfairly block or restrict imports or exports, our relationships with international partners can suffer. Using trade as a weapon can hurt businesses and erode trust between countries. The environmental impact of international trade has also attracted a lot of attention as a possible negative consequence of Australia’s reliance on international trade and investment.
Despite these potential negative consequences, the lives of the vast majority of Australians are sustained and directed in some way by the goods, services, ideas and money that flow between Australia and other countries. It’s easy to ignore this impact when trade and investment flow. And for much of our history before and after the arrival of Europeans, Australia’s trade and investment has continued to flow though buffeted by geopolitics, changes in technology and consumer trends, and times when people wanted to close themselves off from the world and turn inward.
At ACITI, we believe international trade and investment make an important contribution to the Australian way of life. We believe it’s important that Australians have access to information on our trade and investment practice, profile, policy and research so you can better understand how international trade and investment impacts on you.
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