The powerful contribution Australian exporters are making to economic growth has been further highlighted in the latest figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said.

Mr Robb said the figures show that net exports are expected to contribute a healthy 1.5 per centage points to real GDP growth in the September quarter.

Our goods and services export volumes increased by 4.6 per cent to $92 billion in the September quarter, while import volumes fell 2.4 per cent to $83.7 billion.

Mr Robb said that following the enormous wave of investment we have seen in the resources sector, resources exports rose 4.8 per cent to $47.3 billion. Services exports increased by .9 per cent to $15.7 billion.

“In value terms, education-related, personal travel and computer and information services were the key drivers of quarterly growth in services exports. As a services economy, increasing our services exports is fundamental as while they account for around 75 per cent of GDP they represent less than 20 per cent of our exports,” he said.

Compared with the same quarter last year, the September quarter saw strong trade growth in a number of markets including China, US, India and the EU.

Mr Robb said it was also encouraging to see manufactured exports increase by 5.2 per cent to $10.6 billion. “We also saw net inflows of foreign investment into Australia valued at $18.9 billion, up from $13.6 billion in the previous quarter,” he said.

Australia’s new Free Trade Agreements are also providing new opportunities for exporters with data showing strong growth in a number of our exports to Korea and Japan since those agreements entered into force. Agricultural and horticultural exports have flourished in particular.

It is hoped our landmark trade deal with China will enter into force before the end of this year, while negotiations have been concluded for the 12-country Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)

“Broadening our export base is fundamental to our future prosperity and to supporting continued growth and this explains the government’s aggressive trade and investment agenda,” Mr Robb said.