The line chart illustrates the proportion of Australian exports to Japan, China, the US, and India between 1996 and 2001.
Overall, throughout the 5-year period, the percentage of exports to China and India witnessed an upward trajectory, whereas the reverse was true for the US and India. In addition, Japan was generally the country that imported the most Australian goods, but it was then overtaken by China, when its imports from Australia rose significantly.
China and India were the two nations that recorded an increase in imports from Australia. In 1996, the proportion of exports to China was around 2.5%, while the figure for India was even lower at roughly 2%, making it the country with the fewest imports from Australia. However, there was a gradual increase in the percentage of exports to China to 5% by 1998. Thereafter, a noticeable surge to approximately 26% was observed by the end of the period, far surpassing Japan and becoming the nation importing the most Australian commodities. Meanwhile, the proportion of exports to India leveled off at roughly 2% until 1998, before increasing considerably to a peak of about 7% in 2000, which then showed a decline to 5% in 2001.
The remaining countries experienced downward trends. Although Japan was the largest importer of Australia in 1996 with around 26% of imported goods, its percentage of imports significantly decreased to about 18% in 1999. In the subsequent years, this nation recorded a mild decline and ended the period at approximately 17%. The proportion of exports to the US started off at around 13% in 1996, before witnessing oscillations at around 7.5% to 8% until the end of the timeframe.