About adjustments to Australian Bureau of Statistics data

To promote greater completeness in our published trade data, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade applies a series of adjustments to the monthly data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

These adjustments are outlined in the document below. We recommend reading this document carefully before using data from our time series data and pivot table products.

• DFAT adjustments to ABS official trade data [PDF 375 KB]
• DFAT adjustments to ABS official trade data [DOCX 220 KB]

A second document – Appendix A – shows which countries have actually reported import and export totals for each six-month period. Tables 1a and 1b provide coverage to the present day (January 2013 to present for exports and July 2013 to present for imports), while tables 2a and 2b provide a historical summary (all periods prior to 2018).

We strongly recommend referring to Appendix A when interpreting our time series data, especially the country and commodity pivot tables.

• Appendix A (table 1a and 1b) – actual export/import partner country data [PDF 114 KB]
• Appendix A (table 1a and 1b) – actual export/import partner country data [XLSX 41 KB]
   
• Appendix A (table 2a and 2b) – actual export/import partner country data [PDF 179 KB]
• Appendix A (table 2a and 2b) – actual export/import partner country data [XLSX 46 KB]

Last updated: October 2025.

Direction of goods and services trade

These datasets contain detailed statistics on Australia's annual goods and services trade with the rest of the world. Datasets are available for both calendar and financial years.

• Australia's direction of goods and services trade – calendar years from 2007 to present [XLSX 4.3 MB]
  Last updated: October 2025 using custom data associated with ABS Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (Reference period: June 2025), International Trade in Goods (Reference period: June 2025) and International Trade: Supplementary Information, Calendar Year (Reference period: 2024 calendar year).
• Australia's direction of goods & services trade – financial years from 2006-07 to present [XLSX 4 MB]
  Last updated: April 2025 using custom data associated with ABS Balance of Payments and International Investment Position (Reference period: Dec 2024), International Trade in Goods, Australia (Reference period: Jan 2025) and International Trade: Supplementary Information, Financial Year (Reference period: 2023-24 financial year).

Historical trade data

Historical Direction of goods and services trade

Australia's direction of goods & services trade – calendar years from 1989 to 2006 [XLSX 2 MB]
Last updated: September 2024 using ABS International Trade in Goods, Australia (July 2024 data), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (June 2024) and International Trade: Supplementary Information, Calendar Year 2023.

Australia's direction of goods & services trade – financial years from 1989-90 to 2005-06 [XLSX 1.8 MB]
Last updated: February 2024 using ABS International Trade in Goods, Australia (September 2023 data), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (September 2023) and International Trade: Supplementary Information, Financial Year 2022-23.

These datasets are legacy historical file of the direction of goods and services trade on a calendar and financial year basis. It complements the Direction of goods and services trade calendar and financial year files.

Historical merchandise trade

DFAT has compiled historical Australian merchandise trade data dating back to 1901, with some series going back to 1826. All series in this dataset end in 2016-17. For more recent data, including any past revisions, please access the Direction of goods and services trade datasets.

• Australia's direction of merchandise trade [XLSX 410 KB]

For a historical overview of Australian trade, please download our statistical article Australia's trade since Federation [PDF 2.4 MB].

Explanatory notes

The following documents provide more background on the historical dataset:

• Explanatory notes [PDF 554 KB]
• Explanatory notes [DOCX 247 KB]
• Historical country economy map [XLSX 85 KB]

Australia's trade through time

This website documents milestones in Australia's trading history. Snapshot historical information is provided on trade prior to Federation in 1901 and then on a decade-by-decade basis from 1900 to the present. The interactive timeline allows students, researchers and members of the general public to access tailored information about Australia's trade history in a dynamic and engaging way.

Australia's trade through time