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Australian Exports

Have you ever heard the saying “Australia rode to riches on the sheep’s back”?  It was quite a common saying in the past, and it was a statement about Australia’s exports.

In the 1950s, more than a quarter of all Australian export earnings were from the sale of wool, and most of that was to the United Kingdom.  Today, our export earnings come from very different areas of the economy.  Importantly, we have been able to diversify the products that we can offer.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in 2008/09 our top five export earnings were:


The impact of the commodities boom can be clearly seen in this list.  The high price of coal on the international market, combined with Australia’s vast supply of this resource, have resulted in this being our major export earner at this time.  (Note that the statistic is a bit deceptive due to the layout – we could also have written it as $54.6 billion.  This represents an increase of 123.6% from the previous year!)

You should not think, however, that these are the only sources of export income available to Australians.  We export a huge variety of goods and services.  For example, we are very efficient at providing tourism services, and this is an important part of our economy.  Many international students come to study at Australian educational institutions; this is also a form of export.  We are very good at producing dairy products, and so we export a lot of cheese, yoghurt and milk.

Australia is also an important source of live animals.  While this has resulted in some controversy in recent years, the trade in live animals is likely to continue into the future.

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