China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner, accounting for a significant portion of its total trade in goods and services, primarily driven by Australian exports of resources like iron ore, coal, and natural gas, along with agricultural products and services, while Australia imports electronics, machinery, and consumer goods from China.
FAQs on Australian Imports and Exports
Australia's top trading partners are China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and India. These countries account for the majority of imports and exports, particularly in sectors such as natural resources, education, agriculture, and manufactured goods.
The top five purchasers of U.S. goods exports in 2022 were: Canada ($356.5 billion), Mexico ($324.3 billion), China ($150.4 billion), Japan ($80.2 billion), and the United Kingdom ($76.2 billion).
Over the past five years, the United States has remained the biggest investor in Australia, contributing $1,355b.
In October 2025, Australia exported mostly to China ($15.1B), Japan ($5.1B), South Korea ($4.34B), India ($3.05B), and United States ($2.28B), and imported mostly from China ($12.8B), United States ($4.22B), Japan ($2.41B), South Korea ($2.03B), and Thailand ($1.75B).
While many experts warned of a recession for Australia in 2025 due to high inflation and interest rates, the economy largely avoided a major downturn, showing resilience with positive, albeit slower, GDP growth, low unemployment, and some signs of recovery by late 2025, though risks remained, particularly concerning household spending and global trade tensions. Forecasts from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and economists indicated a "slow grind" or modest improvement rather than a sharp crash, with some analysts predicting a potential for recession into 2026, but overall, Australia navigated the challenges better than initially feared.
China is Australia's largest trading partner. It buys almost a third of all Australian exports, and is the top overseas market for many Australian goods and services. Trade and investment with China is a big part of Australia's future. The Australia-China economic relationship is extensive and growing strongly.
Wealth among the wealthiest growing 'much faster'
According to 2024 statistics from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW, the wealthiest 10 per cent of households in Australia own 44 per cent of all wealth, with an average of $5.2 million per household.
Turning $5,000 into over $400,000 requires significant time, consistent investing (especially in growth assets like stocks/ETFs), and the magic of compound interest, potentially combined with regular additional contributions. Key strategies include starting early, investing in diversified portfolios (like index funds), reinvesting dividends, and staying disciplined for decades, as this growth happens exponentially over the long term.
The 7% rule refers to a stop-loss strategy commonly used in position or swing trading. According to this rule, if a stock falls 7–8% below your purchase price, you should sell it immediately—no exceptions.
The United States is Canada's largest trading partner in goods and services, while Canada is the U.S.' second-largest trading partner. Many of these goods involve co-investing and co-development, making our trade highly integrated. Canada and the U.S. also have a significant investment relationship.
China has been the world's largest exporter of goods since 2009, with exports reaching $3.51 trillion in 2023.
Australia's leading export is iron ore, followed by coal, gold, and petroleum. These key commodities generate $48.2 billion, $47 billion, $29.1 billion, and $20.3 billion, respectively.
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars. The Australian economy is dominated by its service sector, which in 2017 comprised 62.7% of the GDP and employed 78.8% of the labour force. At the height of the mining boom in 2009–10, the total value-added of the mining industry was 8.4% of GDP.
Australia's main source of GDP is the service sector, contributing around 60-70% of the economy, with significant shares from Health & Education, Finance, and Professional Services, while the mining sector (especially iron ore, coal, and gas) is crucial for exports and overall economic stability, even though it's a smaller percentage of GDP compared to services.
Turning $10k into $100k in one year requires very high-risk, high-reward strategies like aggressive stock/crypto trading, flipping digital assets (websites/e-commerce), or launching successful online businesses (courses, dropshipping), as traditional investing yields far less; you'll likely need a combination of significant capital investment, rapid skill acquisition, strong market timing, and exceptional execution, accepting the high chance of significant loss.
The rule says that an investor can create a corpus of around one crore rupees by investing Rs. 15,000 per month for 15 years in a mutual fund that can generate 15% average returns based on the power of compounding.
Investing $1,000 a month for 30 years means you contribute $360,000 total, but with compounding returns, the final amount varies significantly by average annual return, potentially growing to over $1 million at 8% and reaching around $2 million or more at a 10% average return, illustrating the power of long-term, consistent investing.
While exact real-time figures vary, estimates from around 2025 suggest approximately 400,000 to over 500,000 Australians held over $1 million in superannuation, with about 2.5% of the population reaching this milestone as of mid-2021, a figure that has likely grown with strong investment returns, though many more hold significant balances and millions are projected to reach this goal by retirement, especially men.
The richest family in Australia is generally considered the Rinehart family, primarily through Gina Rinehart, who leads the mining giant Hancock Prospecting, consistently topping lists with wealth estimated in the tens of billions (e.g., ~$38B-$50B+ in recent years), followed by other prominent families like the Pratts (manufacturing) and Forrests (mining/commodities).
The 2% property rule is a real estate investing guideline where you check if a rental property's monthly rent is at least 2% of its purchase price, indicating strong potential for positive cash flow and profitability; you calculate this by dividing the monthly rent by the property's total price and multiplying by 100, aiming for 2% or more to deem it a good deal, though it's a simplified metric, notes Rentana and Abacus Finance.
Australia is one of the most popular destinations for overseas higher education and tourism among Chinese people. Australia's Chinese community is also one of the largest in the world, and per capita it is the largest outside Asia, and Mandarin Chinese is the second-most spoken language in Australia.
Australia's exports to China rose 18% to a record $219 billion in 2023, or 32% of total exports (Chart) driven by strong resources export volumes and commodity prices. Indeed, iron ore accounted for almost 60% of Australian goods exports to China over the year to May 2024.
Yearly Trade
The most recent exports are led by Crude Petroleum ($124B), Refined Petroleum ($116B), Petroleum Gas ($80.7B), Cars ($66.9B), and Gas Turbines ($52.6B). The most common destinations of the exports of United States are Canada ($291B), Mexico ($285B), China ($147B), Germany ($83.4B), and Japan ($76.4B).