The line graphs illustrate Australia’s trade volume with three different countries over a four-year period. Figures are measured in billions of Australian dollars.
Overall, it is clear that exports were consistently higher than imports across all three countries. China recorded the largest trade volumes, while trade with the USA and Japan followed a steadier upward trend.
In terms of trade with China, imports stood at about 4.3 billion dollars in 2002 before falling by almost half in the following year. However, they recovered steadily, reaching approximately 4.5 billion dollars by the end of the period. Exports showed a contrasting pattern, as they almost doubled from 2.5 billion dollars in 2002 to 4.5 billion in 2003, before dropping to less than half of this figure in 2004. A moderate recovery was seen in the final year.
Regarding the USA and Japan, Australia’s trade increased in both countries. In 2002, exports stood at approximately 2.4 billion dollars in the USA and 1.2 billion in Japan, and then continued to grow steadily to nearly 3 billion and 2.6 billion dollars, respectively. Imports followed a similar upward trend, rising gradually to just over 2 billion dollars in the USA and around 1.7 billion in Japan.