Export
Issue No. 3 - December/ 2001/january
SA's growing international trade
by Professor Richard Blandy
Over the last decade, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the markets for overseas exports from South Australia and for overseas imports into South Australia grew at more than twice the rate of spending within South Australia itself (State Final Demand). Exports grew by 114 per cent, imports grew by 111 per cent, and State Final Demand grew by 52 per cent (all in current price terms). In other words, the biggest economic opportunities for South Australian business over the last decade were associated (it must be emphasised, on average) withinternational trade.
This increase in South Australia’s international exports and imports was nearly 20 per cent more than the increase nationally. Nationally, over the same period, exports increased by 99 per cent, imports increased by 96 per cent, while Gross National Expenditure increased by 63 per cent.
But even though South Australia’s international trading performance rose rapidly over the 1990s, the proportion of South Australia’s production that is traded internationally still falls well short of the proportion of national production that is traded internationally. These trends are captured in the following chart.
South Australian and Australian Exports and Imports as Percentages of SA GSP and Australian GDP, Current Values, Trend. Year Ended June (SA), Quarterly Preceding December (Australia)
The good news for South Australia is that there is clear evidence in these figures of a restructuring of South Australia’s economy towards a more internationally competitive foundation on the basis of which we can expect the State’s overall economic growth rate to improve relative to Australia’s as a whole. The task is not yet complete, but we are making solid and encouraging gains, which should be reflected in due course in a faster rate of growth of ...
