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Australia's goods trade
Recorded trade basis vs Balance of payments (BOP) basis
Exports 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
A$m A$m A$m
Recorded trade basis 264,020 246,979 272,913
BOP adjustments 1,702 1,938 890
Balance of payments basis 265,722 248,917 273,803
Imports 2011 2012 2013
A$m A$m A$m
Recorded trade basis 239,736 236,243 251,681
BOP adjustments 17,254 17,294 15,535
Balance of payments basis 256,990 253,537 267,216
Balance on goods trade 2011 2012 2013
A$m A$m A$m
Recorded trade basis 24,284 10,736 21,232
BOP adjustments -15,552 -15,356 -14,645
Balance of payments basis 8,732 -4,620 6,587
Based on ABS trade data on DFAT STARS database & ABS catalogue 5368.0.
Commodity classification
Balance of payments - goods
Australia’s BOP statistics are compiled in accordance with the latest international standards determined by the
International Monetary Fund, and published in Balance of Payments Manual, Sixth edition, 2008 (BPM6).
Exports of goods in Australia’s BOP are classified into three major components: General merchandise, Net exports
of goods under merchanting and Non-monetary gold. For the General merchandise component, the underlying
classification scheme for exports is the United Nations’ Standard International Trade - Classification (SITC Rev4).
The classification is broken down into Rural goods (with four underlying series) and Non-rural goods (with nine
underlying series).
Imports of goods in Australia’s BOP are classified into two major components: General merchandise and Nonmonetary
gold. For General merchandise imports are broken into three ‘end use’ categories – Consumption
goods, Capital goods and Intermediate and other goods, in accordance with the United Nations’ Classification by
Broad Economic Categories (BEC).
Balance of payments - Services
Australia's BOP defines services as comprising services provided between Australian residents and non-residents,
together with some transactions in goods where, by international agreement, it is not practical to separate the
goods and services components (e.g. goods purchased by travellers are classified as services).
Services delivered to non-residents through a foreign branch or subsidiary, for example, services rendered to an
Asian company by a branch office of an Australian legal firm in Bangkok, are not defined as a BOP transaction.
However, services delivered by a parent company to a foreign-resident subsidiary are defined as international
services. Any profits or dividends remitted between an enterprise in Australia and a related enterprise abroad are
regarded as an income transaction, not as a service in Australia’s BOP.
The ABS Extended Balance of Payments services classification (EBOP) is based on the UN publication Manual on
Statistics of International Trade in Services. This is an extended services classification that is fully compatible with
the BPM6.
In this classification, services commodities are broken down into 12 major groups: Manufacturing services on
physical inputs owned by others; Maintenance & repair; Transport; Travel; Construction; Insurance & pension;