April turned out to be something of a banner month for the Australian trade account, with record exports and the third highest surplus on record.
According to the merchandise trade data for April from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the surplus hit $10.1 billion last month and exports went close to $36 billion for the first time ever.
A 7% drop in imports to $25.8 billion – thanks in part to a fall in gold imports and electrical machinery, was the driver for the near record surplus as exports were only up $13 million at just over $35.9 billion.
ABS Head of International Statistics, Andrew Tomadini said “Exports remained steady, increasing $12.6 million in April, but imports fell $1.9 billion, adding to the already strong surplus recorded in March 2021.
Increases in the exports of coal, petroleum, metalliferous ores (iron ore) and medicinal and pharmaceutical products were offset by falls in non-monetary gold and oil seeds shipments (after record exports of Canola in March).
The ABS said the continued strength of metalliferous ores contributed to total exports for April 2021 reaching a record high of almost $36 billion.
In fact metalliferous ores “increased another 1% in April 2021 to record a historic high of $16.5 billion, driving record high exports” said Mr Tomadini. near record prices for most of the month for iron ore and rising copper prices helped boost the value of exports.
An increase in coal exports ($287 million) was driven by thermal coal, up $203 million, with an increase of $116 million to India. “Australian coal exports to India have been steadily rising since mid-2020, following a substantial reduction in Chinese demand for Australian coal,” the ABS said.
The fall in imports was led by non-monetary gold, down $455 million or 46%, reversing most of the increase seen in March 2021. Electrical machinery and apparel fell, with the ABS saying the value of apparel imports eased from the second highest value in March 2021.
The ABS said that April 2021 exports were $4.920 billion or 16% higher than April 2020 exports which were hit by the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns here and offshore and lower commodity prices. Gas exports though were down 28% or $1.206 billion last month from the same month in 2020.
Imports last month were up 8% or $1.879 billion from April 2020 thanks to a 55% jump in the value of cars ($1.450 billion) and a 58% jump in the value of petroleum imports ($995 million).
The full trade figures next Thursday will include the value of service exports and imports. That usually sees a fall in the size of the surplus.
