Xifres de comerç exterior d'Austràlia

Foreign Trade in Figures

Australia is very open to international trade, which represents 46% of its GDP (World Bank, 2025). According to Comtrade data, the country’s goods exports in 2025 were led by iron ores and concentrates (23.2% of the total), followed by coal (12.3%), natural gas (11.8%), gold (11.4%), and frozen beef (2.3%). On the other hand, imports mostly comprised refined petroleum (9.6%), passenger motor cars (7.5%), gold (4.3%), computers (3.5%), and goods vehicles (3.3%).

Australia’s main export partners in 2025 were China (30.3%), Japan (7.5%), the U.S. (7.4%), South Korea (5.9%), the United Kingdom (4.1%), and India (3.9%). The top five importing partners for Australia were China (26.7%), the U.S. (11.0%), Japan (5.3%), South Korea (4.7%), and Singapore (4.2% - data Comtrade). Structurally, Australian foreign trade is highly dependent on the Chinese economic situation and the country's diplomatic relations with China. The EU is Australia's third-largest trading partner: after eight years of talks, the two parties concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement on 24 March 2026, which will eliminate almost all tariffs. The agreement is expected to be signed by the end of 2026 or early 2027, with entry into force likely in late 2027. On the 15th of November 2020, Australia also signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries. This free trade agreement is the largest trade deal in history, covering 30% of the global economy. It includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea). The RCEP covers goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation. It also creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The country's trade balance was characterised by a structural deficit until 2007, but since then the country has been alternating between periods of surplus and deficit. In 2025, Australia exported USD 337.6 billion in goods and USD 91.6 billion in services (-1.0% and +8.5% y-o-y, respectively); whereas imports stood at USD 310.6 billion for goods and USD 115.8 billion for services (+4.8% and +5.8%, respectively – data WTO). The overall trade balance was estimated to be positive by 0.6% of GDP by the World Bank (from 2.1% one year earlier).