What we sell, buy and finance

The DFAT calendar-2025 table reports A$665.210 billion exports and A$658.308 billion imports, giving a derived goods-and-services surplus of A$6.902 billion in that publication vintage.

Source: DFAT 2025 trade table (opens in a new tab), published June 2026 according to its index (opens in a new tab). The original includes the top 15 partners and 25 categories on both sides. Partner goods use recorded trade, services use balance-of-payments data, and whole-economy totals use the balance-of-payments basis. Confidential items may be excluded from partner figures. Do not force partner totals to reconcile by silently inventing a country allocation.

Iron ore, coal and gas together are a derived 36.8% of total exports in this table. That shows exposure to those export markets; it does not mean 36.8% of Australia's GDP or public revenue comes from them. Export revenue is gross sales. Domestic value added, imported inputs, profits, wages, taxes and royalties are separate measures.

Education-related travel is a service export even when the student is physically in Australia. The service category extends beyond university tuition, so it is not an estimate of university fee income alone. Travel exports likewise involve spending across multiple businesses.

The largest categories include personal travel excluding education (A$68.533 billion), refined petroleum (A$43.854 billion), passenger vehicles (A$34.466 billion), professional/technical/other business services (A$32.973 billion), transport services (A$29.030 billion) and intellectual-property charges (A$19.187 billion). Source: the same DFAT table (opens in a new tab).

An import is a purchase from a non-resident supplier, not a payment into Australia's public coffers. It may bring machinery, fuel, medicine, technology or a service that enables domestic production. Tariffs and import GST are separate public receipts under applicable rules. A useful dependency investigation therefore asks both how much Australia spends and what would happen if a critical supply were interrupted.

At 31 December 2025, recorded foreign investment totalled A$5,116.3 billion. The matching Australian investment abroad was A$4,477.8 billion, leaving a net international liability position of about A$638.5 billion in the annual release.

Sources: DFAT investor table (opens in a new tab) and ABS annual IIP (opens in a new tab). China is the largest export market here but ranks eleventh in the total-investment table. Those are different rankings answering different questions.

The foreign investment stock comprises approximately A$1,302.3 billion direct investment, A$980.0 billion portfolio equity, A$1,747.7 billion portfolio debt, A$322.9 billion derivatives and A$763.4 billion other investment. These include claims on private and public Australian entities. The total is neither the value of foreign-owned Australian land nor the Commonwealth's debt.

Direct investment indicates a lasting investment relationship under statistical definitions, conventionally involving at least 10% voting power. It can include intercompany lending and reinvested earnings, not just acquisitions. Portfolio positions include securities without that direct-investment relationship. ABS methodology (opens in a new tab).

What the country labels conceal

The statistics generally identify the immediate counterparty's residence. They do not provide a complete map of ultimate beneficial owners. DFAT specifically explains Belgium's high total through debt securities associated with Euroclear. A fund domicile, custodian or intermediate company can sit between the reporting country and the ultimate saver or government.

Record four distinct fields in any ownership investigation: immediate legal owner, ultimate owner if evidenced, fund manager/custodian, and government ownership or control if evidenced. Pension money, private savings, sovereign reserves and government-controlled companies should not all be labelled “foreign government money”.

A stock can rise because of new investment, exchange rates, market prices or other adjustments. The A$151.6 billion increase in the total stock during 2025 is not itself the annual net cash inflow.

ABS separately reports A$54.712 billion inward direct-investment transactions in 2025. The leading counterparties in its table include the US (A$13.501 billion), Netherlands (A$7.129 billion), Singapore (A$6.200 billion), Japan (A$5.573 billion), UK (A$3.950 billion) and China (A$3.500 billion). Inward portfolio-investment transactions were A$173.704 billion. These are net transactions within the stated categories; neither is a tally of newly built factories or all cross-border financing. ABS transaction tables (opens in a new tab).

Buying shares already on the market usually pays the selling investor. Buying newly issued shares supplies money to the issuer. Acquiring an existing infrastructure asset and funding its expansion are also different events. A useful project record keeps purchase price, committed capital and subsequent expenditure separate.

The annual ABS investment release records A$171.677 billion investment-income debits on foreign investment in Australia and A$110.677 billion income credits on Australian investment abroad for 2025. Their derived difference is A$61.000 billion net investment-income debits. These are income-accounting measures, including reinvested earnings where applicable; they are not a direct measurement of cash physically transferred overseas.

The US accounted for A$48.528 billion of debits, Belgium A$16.163 billion, the UK A$14.041 billion and Japan A$13.621 billion in the published top-country table. The same counterparty caveats apply. Australia's investors also received income from overseas; considering only the inward ownership side leaves out this return. ABS income tables (opens in a new tab).

A trade surplus therefore does not imply a current-account surplus. The current account also includes primary and secondary income. As a newer, separate observation, ABS reported a A$27.220 billion current-account deficit in June quarter 2026, seasonally adjusted: goods/services −A$5.104 billion, primary income −A$21.863 billion and secondary income −A$0.253 billion. This quarterly result must not be subtracted from the calendar-2025 trade figures. ABS June 2026 balance of payments (opens in a new tab).

Households save through deposits, super and direct investment. Businesses retain profits, borrow and issue equity. Banks combine deposits, wholesale debt and equity; domestic and overseas sources both matter. When banks lend, they can create deposits, but they face credit, capital, liquidity and funding constraints. This is not revenue earned by the government. RBA bank funding (opens in a new tab) and money creation (opens in a new tab).

APRA reports A$4,767.2 billion of total superannuation assets at June 2026, including A$3,411.5 billion in APRA-regulated assets. These savings support domestic and overseas holdings; the entire balance cannot be counted as money invested in Australia. Nor is it a government fund available for general spending. APRA June 2026 release (opens in a new tab).

Government-related capital can arrive through central-bank reserve portfolios, sovereign wealth funds, public pension institutions or operating companies. Its legal rights depend on the actual investment, licence, contracts and regulation. Ownership evidence can establish financial interests and sometimes voting rights; it does not by itself establish political direction of an Australian institution.

There is no complete, public, investor-by-investor list of all foreign holdings in Australia in the sources collected here. The Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets (opens in a new tab) covers reporting obligations across land, water, entities and other assets, and Treasury's Guidance Note 15, page 1 (opens in a new tab) explicitly says the register is not public. Company disclosures and asset-specific records are therefore needed. Three concrete examples are in business and resources.