Over the year-ended August 2015, the value of Australia’s exports of wood and wood products totaled AUD1.506 billion, a rise of 16.4% on the prior year. Because of the depreciation of the Australian Dollar, many of Australia’s wood products are more than 20% cheaper for buyers, allowing export volumes to grow and driving higher total exports.
The export number compares well with imports, whose total value was AUD1.729 billion over the same period. The balance of trade, though remaining negative, was just over AUD223 million, a slight improvement compared with the year-ended August 2014.
Only once in the last twenty-four months have exports declined on the prior month. As the chart below shows, exports commenced rising in August 2013 as the Australian Dollar commenced its long and continuous depreciation against the US Dollar and most other significant currencies.
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All of the detail is available on the FWPA Data Dashboard, but most readers of Statistics Count will understand that Australia’s exports are dominated by raw wood, especially hardwood chips, on the one hand and softwood logs on the other.
Softwood log exports have continued to grow in value. For the year-ended August 2015, exports were valued at AUD282.9 million, up 3.3% on the prior year. Softwood log exports accounted for 86.9% of all roundwood exports over the year, consistent with the experience of the last three years.
Exports have been rising continuously over the last year, after experiencing some sharp variations in 2014, as the chart below displays.
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After a record monthly export in March 2014, exports declined all the way through to August 2014, since which they have recovered and are trending upwards, but with the greatest stability this still developing market has seen. Stability appears to indicate a structured supply arrangement, if not entirely consistent demand.
Despite the slowdown in Chinese economic growth that has commentators concerned about the future of global growth and trade, Australia’s softwood logs grew their position into China over the year-ended August 2015. Though modest, the increase to AUD262.6 million was at the expense of supplies to Korea, the only other country of note to which Australia exports softwood logs.
