Major trading partners – calendar year results

The NT is geographically located close to major Asian economies including Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Republic of South Korea, and as expected these are the NT’s major trading partners. The NT also relies on goods imports from the United States of America and the European Union, which are also identified as key trading partners. In this section, analysis on the NT's major trading partners is provided by calendar year, for both exports and imports.

2023 Activity

Please note, some of the main items of trade have been confidentialised by the ABS due to sensitivity of specific commodities and limited sources of goods and merchandise, which makes suppliers easily identifiable.

Map 1: The Territory’s major goods trading partners, 2023^{1, 2}

1  Current prices.
2  This map is produced from various sources. Department of Treasury and Finance cannot guarantee the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information. To be used as a guide only.
3  Excluding special administrative regions (Macau and Hong Kong) and Taiwan.
Source: Department of Treasury and Finance, ABS, International Trade in Goods and Services, Cat. No. 5368.0

Japan

Japan was the NT’s largest export market in 2023, representing 44.3% of the Territory’s exports. Goods exported decreased by 10% to $7.1 billion , driven by decreases in the confidential items (likely liquefied natural gas) category.
Goods imported decreased by 12.2% to $137 million, and the share of imports was 7%.

China

China was the NT’s second largest export market, representing 18.5% of the Territory’s exports. Goods exported rose by 66% to $3 billion.
Goods imported decreased by 16.9% to $128 million, and the share of imports was 6%.

Singapore

Goods exported to Singapore decreased by 1.2% to $1 billion , driven by a decrease in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported increased by 78.8% to $304 million, and the share of imports was 14.3%.

Taiwan

Goods exported to Taiwan increased by 18.9% to $2.1 billion , driven by an increase in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported decreased by 91.8% to $23 million, and the share of imports was 1.1%.

Republic of Korea

Goods exported to the Republic of Korea decreased by 1.6% to $1.3 billion , driven by decreases in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported decreased by 48% to $445 million, and the share of imports was 21%.

Thailand

Goods exported to Thailand increased 11.0% to $537 million, driven by an increase in the petroleum and petroleum related materials category.
Goods imported increased by 18.5% to $147 million , driven by an increase in road vehicles.

Indonesia

Goods exported to Indonesia decreased by 44.8% to $357 million , driven by decreases in live animal exports and in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported increased by $46 million to $58 million, and the share of imports was 2.7%.

India

Goods exported to India fell by 61.8% to $58 million , driven by a decrease in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported increased by $18 million to $30 million, and the share of imports was 1.4%.

Papua New Guinea

Goods exported to Papua New Guinea decreased by 95.7% to $16 million , driven by a decrease in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).

European Union

The European Union (EU) consists of 27 member states, Austria, Belgium (including Belgium Luxembourg), Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France (including the French Antilles), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands (including the Netherlands Antilles), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Goods exported to the EU decreased by 61.6% to $76 million , driven by decreases in metalliferous ores and metal scrap.
Goods imported increased by 91.9% to $119 million, and the share of imports was 5.6%.

Malaysia

Goods exported to Malaysia decreased by 9.8% to $166 million, driven by a decrease in the confidential items category (likely liquefied natural gas).
Goods imported increased by 198.8% to $484 million , driven by an increase in petroleum and petroleum related products.

Vietnam

Goods exported to Vietnam fell by 17.6% to $56 million , driven by a decrease in the live animal exports category.
Goods imported decreased by 15.4% to $11 million, and the share of imports was 0.5%.

United States of America

Goods exported to the United States of America increased by $15 million to $22 million driven by an increase in the transport equipment category.
Goods imported increased by 44.3% to $101 million, and the share of imports was 4.8%.

Canada

Goods exported to Canada increased by 26.3% to $48 million , driven by an increase in metalliferous ores and metal scrap category.
Goods imported increased from $2 million to $24 million, and the share of imports was 1.1%.

Department of
Treasury and Finance

Northern Territory Economy