Australia Trade Surplus Tops Expectations

(RTTNews) - Australia's trade surplus increased more than expected in March as exports logged a stronger growth amid falling imports, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed Thursday.

The trade surplus surged to A$6.9 billion in March from A$2.8 billion in February. The surplus was seen at A$3.2 billion. The latest figure was the highest since February 2024. Exports increased 7.6 percent from a month ago on higher non-rural goods shipments. Meanwhile, imports fell 2.2 percent driven by capital goods, data showed.

Another report from the ABS showed that import price inflation accelerated to 3.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter from 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Due to the deterioration of the Australian dollar value and tighter US sanctions on Russian and Iranian crude oil early in the year, import prices of petroleum, petroleum products and related materials advanced 8.2 percent.

Meanwhile, export price inflation eased to 2.1 percent from 3.6 percent in the previous quarter.

On a yearly basis, import prices were up 3.2 percent and export prices declined 4.7 percent in the first quarter.