export.business.gov.au helps Australian businesses find new opportunities

The export.business.gov.au tool has undergone a major upgrade. 

Exporters can now search for insights on more than 6,300 products and over 120 markets in a single location. The data will support Australian businesses to expand and diversify their export markets.

The tool covers major sectors, including consumer products, food and agribusiness, health, defence, resources and energy. There are more than 23,000 market recommendations.

Export.business.gov.au consolidates trade data from major Australian and international databases. Exporters can use this data to research market opportunities, understand laws and regulations, and create custom export plans.

Austrade’s Economics team collated Australian and international trade data to upgrade the tool. The team also worked with Swinburne University to map commodities to markets where they sell best. This gives Australian businesses up-to-date information on the strongest markets for their product.

Expanded information on export markets

Australian businesses looking to export are often daunted by which markets to enter. Working out the best place to sell a product would take hours of research.

Now, strong performing export markets for specific products can be easily found using the expanded market search tool.

The information is based on Austrade and Swinburne University’s model, which uses econometric and machine learning techniques. The model generates a ‘market score’ against each product type. This identifies up to top 10 strong export markets for all products.

It means Australian businesses can make strong, evidence-based decisions on the best markets to consider for exporting.

Information on laws and regulations

Understanding complex export laws and regulations is crucial. A small mistake in export paperwork can be costly. It may even lead to fines or delayed delivery and reputation damage.

The upgrade consolidates information on export laws and regulations in one place. By entering a product and market, businesses will find information on:

• tariffs
• sanitary and phytosanitary measures
• technical and quality measures
• labelling requirements
• trade remedies, including anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures and safeguard measures
• pre-shipment inspection requirements 
• price control measures.

Build custom export plans for your product or service

The export plan builder helps businesses develop a solid export plan. The tool customises export plan templates based on their product and chosen market.

The plan includes pre-filled market insights from Austrade and tips to help exporters complete each section.

Data from Australian and international trade sources

Data for the export.business.gov.au update came from the following sources:

• The International Trade Centre’s market access map 
• The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Free Trade Agreement Portal 
• The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Manual of Importing Country Requirements
• The International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database
• The United Nations’ Comtrade Database 
• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Trade Analysis and Information System
• The United States International Trade Commission’s Dynamic Gravity Dataset
• The World Bank’s World Development Indicators
• The World Bank’s World Integrated Trade Solution
• The World Trade Organization’s Integrated Database.