The first chart illustrates the amount of money cost for Australian goods imported and exported from and to China from 1998 to 2004. While the second chart gives information about the kinds of imported Chinese items in the years 2003 and 2004.
Overall, there was an upward trend in the price of both imported and exported items throughout the period. In addition, the figures for Chinese imported goods increased in most categories, except for clothes, which remained unchanged by 2004.
Regarding the first chart, the amount of money spent on Chinese imported goods started at around $20 billion, which was double that of those exported to China, at around $10 billion. Thereafter, the figures for both categories rose over the 6-year period, with imported goods from China reaching $40 billion and $30 billion of those exported to China. It is also worth noticing that the difference between the two categories was the same by the end of the period, at roughly $10 billion.
As for the remaining chart, computers and furniture were the two most dominant types of goods in 2003, at about $5 billion, followed closely by clothes and telecommunication equipment, with respective figures of around $4 billion and $3 billion. On the other hand, toy and sports equipments only accounted for $2 billion of the total money spent on Chinese imported goods. By the end of the following year, telecommunication and toy/sports equipment each recorded a significant grow of about $5 billion to be ranked the first and second most popular goods imported by China. A marginal rise of just $1 billion was seen in both computers and furniture, both reaching $6 billion by 2004. Clothes, on the other hand, stayed the same at roughly $4 billion throughout.