Report Affirms China's Importance To Australia

by Oliver Probert - last modified Jun 06, 2012 12:00 PM

“The change in the past two decades in terms of the Australia-China story has been profound,” said BREE executive director and chief economist Professor Quentin Grafton.

Australian exports to China grew at an annual average rate of more than 20% over the last 20 years, according to the professor.

That change was driven by a 200-fold increase in export of mineral resources to China. The real value of Australian mineral exports to China increased from A$0.2bn in 1989-90 to A$49.9bn in 2010-11.

China accounted for around 69% of Australian total iron ore exports in 2010-11, compared to just 6% in 1989-90.

“In volume terms, and over the same period, the proportion of total Australian exports that are exported to China has increased more than 10-fold for iron ore and metallurgical coal and more than a 100-fold for thermal coal,” Professor Grafton added.

Within that time span in the global market, Australia’s share of China’s metallurgical coal imports increased from 1% to 11%, while Australia’s share of China’s thermal coal imports grew from 0.1% to 12%.

Australian export of manufactured goods to China also increased dramatically over the last two decades, rising from A$1.2bn real value in 1989-90 to A$64.9bn in 2010-11.

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