China remains Australia's largest merchandise market at USD79.2bn in the past year

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham reported (05-Dec-2018) goods and services exports increased to AUD87 billion (USD63.3 billion) and AUD24 billion (USD17.4 billion) respectively. Trade surplus increased from AUD3.9 billion (USD2.8 billion) in Jun-2018 quarter to AUD6.6 billion (USD4.8 billion) in the Sep-2018 quarter. China remained Australia's largest merchandise market in 12 months ended Sep-2018 with AUD109 billion (USD79.2 billion), followed by Japan and Korea. The Ministry also reported "strong" export sales growth was seen from Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Italy in the last 12 months. [more - original PR]