Australia: Trade surplus going down? – TD Securities

Analysts at TD Securities note that Australia recorded a trade surplus of A$5926m in Aug, down from A$7253m in July with exports -3.4%.

Key Quotes

“A significant portion of the decline in the surplus from July is on the back of a drop in the value of iron ore exported, where despite the rise in volumes, prices fell more. The value of coal exports fell too, but this was less of a driver, while non-monetary gold reversed the large upward spike seen in July.”

“Imports were 0.4% lower on the month, largely due to a lower fuel bill and lower capital goods imports. We suspect that over coming months, the trade surplus is likely to come in below recent high monthly prints as the value of exports to China are likely to slow.”