Opening Remarks

Australia holds the status of a net exporter in the global stage, which means that the annual exports leaving Australia exceed the quantity of imports. The strong exports form the backbone to Australia’s economic success. One indication of this is that prior to 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia has seen 29 years of continuous economic growth. This meant that ever since 1991, the nation has not seen two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, which would mean the country is in recession.

It is crucially important to understand the strengths that underly Australia’s success in evading a technical recession as economic recession affected the rest of the world. The nation weathered the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis of the early 2000s, in addition to the worldwide implications of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. It is no wonder that Australia is renowned as the “Lucky Country”.

While there were various other factors that contributed to Australia’s strong economy, the immense contributions provided by the nation’s exports between and during economic recessions cannot be understated.

This article is a two-part series that will take a data driven approach to understand the historical trends and future opportunities of Australian exports, focusing on merchandise. The first part will take a retrospective look at the overall export growth, and the key markets that have been the focus of Australia’s exporters. While a second article will break down the key merchandise exported from Australia and conduct a time series analysis. This historical approach will be combined with an understanding of the current economic climate to provide a forward outlook for certain goods.