Australia has recorded a trade surplus of $8,025 million in May 2020, $195 million up from April 2020’s surplus in balance of trade and goods.

In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits (exports of goods and services) fell by 4% in May 2020. Non-rural goods fell 4%, rural goods fell 10% and non-monetary gold fell 12%. In contrast, service credits rose by 2% and net exports of goods under merchanting remained steady at $45 million.

Good and services debits experienced a decrease of 6% from April 2020 to May 2020. Consumption goods fell 14%, intermediate and other merchandise goods fell 8% and capital goods fell 7%. Service debits also fell by 1%. Non-monetary gold rose by 113%.

Trends in international trade activity have been significantly affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic and as a result, it may be some time before the underlying trend in international trade activity can be accurately estimated.