CANBERRA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Trade in Goods and Services April data released on Thursday shows that Australian exports have increased 11 percent from last year with resources exports increasing 19 percent.Australia has experienced four consecutive months of surpluses including a 900 million AU dollar (836.5 million U.S. dollar) surplus in March, before experiencing a trade deficit of 122 million (113.4 million U.S. dollars) and a minor fall in exports of 1.5 percent month-on-month in April, underpinning Australia's strong economic position."Australia's position has strengthened over a sustained period of months and minerals and ore exports in particular are continuing to experience significant growth," Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said."Australia has also increased exports across ASEAN nations and North Asia and the conclusion of the (South) Korean and Japanese Free Trade Agreements will provide even greater opportunities to facilitate trade relationships for Australian exporters," he said.Robb said Australia's exports to the United States experienced a modest year-on-year increase to reach 794 million (738 million U. S. dollars) in a sign of steady confidence from the United States, which remains Australia's largest source of foreign direct investment and long-term trading partner.Exports to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have seen an increase of 35.2 percent to 2.4 billion AU dollars (2.23 billion U.S. dollars).China is still Australia's biggest export market with 9.1 billion AU dollars (8.46 billion U.S. dollars), followed by Japan' s 3.9 billion AU dollars (3.6 billion U.S. dollars).Services exports increased 10 percent to approach the 5 billion (4.6 billion U.S. dollar) mark.Metals exports increased 7.7 percent to 1 billion (927.5 million U.S. dollars) while machinery exports rose by 10 percent to 782 million (726.8 million U.S. dollars).Imports rose 6.6 percent to 28.6 billion (26.58 billion U.S. dollars) driven by a rise in imports of consumption goods, intermediate goods and services.Exports to Europe and India have experienced a decrease.

June 5, 2014

Source: Xinhua