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About Sydney and NSW > Trade and Investment

Export Markets by Region

The Asia Pacific is by far the largest market for New South Wales' merchandise exports. The State's export performance from year to year is therefore heavily dependent on the strength of the major economies in the region, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, as well as the ASEAN group of nations.

New South Wales' share of exports destined for the Asia Pacific has remained relatively stable over the past few years. New South Wales' share of exports destined for the European Union and North America has declined while exports to the rest of the world have increased from 9.0% in 2002/03 to 12.7% in 2006/07.

New South Wales' exports to ASEAN countries continue to benefit from Australia's free trade agreements with both Singapore and Thailand. The agreement with Singapore has been in force since July 2003, while the agreement with Thailand implemented in January 2005. Both agreements are comprehensive, covering nearly all bilateral trade.


Export Markets by Region - New South Wales and Australia (%) (1)

  (%) New South Wales (%) Australia
Region 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
ASEAN countries (2) 12.9 12.0 12.7 12.2 11.8 12.0 11.3 11.8 11.1 11.3
Other Asia Pacific (3) 58.1 59.3 60.2 59.7 59.5 52.9 55.5 58.1 58.5 60.5
European Union (4) 9.5 9.0 8.1 7.6 7.3 13.7 11.7 10.9 12.3 11.2
North America (5) 10.6 10.9 9.5 9.4 8.6 10.6 10.4 8.9 7.5 6.9
Rest of World 9.0 8.7 9.5 11.1 12.7 10.8 11.1 10.3 10.7 10.1


Footnotes:
1: Merchandise exports only.
2: The 10 ASEAN countries are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
3: Other Asia Pacific countries include China, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, as well as many smaller Pacific Island nations.
4: Prior to 2004-05, EU countries included are Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In 2004-05, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia were added following their admission to the EU in May 2004. These 10 additional countries only make up a very minor part of New South Wales and Australian merchandise exports - less than 0.1% in 2006-07.
5: North America includes the United States and Canada.

Source: ABS data on request (preliminary), November 2007.