Australia's two way trade with the Asia Pacific region for the year ending June 2012 has topped $627 billion, around 43 per cent of nominal GDP.
The end result is a $4.8 billion trade surplus of goods and services for the year.
Two-way trade increased by $53 billion from $573 billion in financial year 2010-11.
Australia’s trade with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies has underpinned this growth with a total value of almost $450 billion.
APEC trade accounts for over 70 per cent of Australia’s total export and import bills.
Eight of Australia’s 10 largest trading partners are within Asia, reflecting the country’s strategic location and increased economic participation within this fast-growing region.
The value of Australia’s exports of goods and services rose by 6.2 per cent to $316 billion in financial year 2011-12 – about 21 per cent of GDP.
On five year trend terms, Australia’s exports have grown by 7.4 per cent. This impressive result is primarily due to strong demand in Asia for Australia’s minerals and fuels.
Australia’s top two export items, iron ore and coal, were valued at A111 billion accounting for 35 per cent of Australia’s total exports of goods and services. These two commodities have risen by an average annual rate of 34 per cent and 16 per cent respectively over the past five years.
The value of Australia’s imports of goods and services increased by 12.7 per cent to $311 billion in financial year 2010-11 – about 21 per cent of GDP.
Australia’s imports have grown by an average of 4.9 per cent per annum over the past five year.
Australia’s two-way trade with a single nation exceeded $100 billion. China was Australia’s largest two-way trading partner, our largest export market ($83 billion) and source of imports ($45 billion).
Japan and the United States remain Australia’s second and third largest trading partners, with respective total two-way trade values of $76 billion (12.1 per cent market share) and $57 billion (9 per cent) in the 2011-12 financial year.
Australia’s $447 billion trade with APEC economies has grown 9.8 per cent in financial year 2011-12 with the average growth rate over the past five years around 7.3 per cent per year.