Top export destinations of "Cotton" from Australia in 2022: Vietnam with a share of 38% (1.17 billion US$) Indonesia with a share of 11.8% (360 million US$) India with a share of 8.12% (246 million US$)
Exporters and Importers
Cotton are the world's 51st most traded product. In 2021, the top exporters of Cotton were China ($12.1B), India ($10B), United States ($7.21B), Vietnam ($3.92B), and Brazil ($3.61B).
Official figures from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), reveal that in August 2022, nearly $866 million of cotton was exported alone – almost double the entire amount of cotton exported in 2020 – just two years earlier.
The northern Murray-Darling Basin produces 93% of Australia's cotton. Cotton is one of Australia's biggest agricultural industries – worth about A$2 billion each year – and a steady supply of water is crucial for production.
Australian cotton has found a home in Pakistan after Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) exported numerous bales last year. LDC is a global merchant and processor of agricultural goods. The company has worked with Australian farmers and growers since 1913.
Yearly Trade
During the last five reported years the exports of Australia have changed by $139B from $204B in 2016 to $343B in 2021. The most recent exports are led by Iron Ore ($118B), Coal Briquettes ($54.3B), Petroleum Gas ($39.2B), Gold ($17.6B), and Wheat ($7.36B).
What Does Australia Export? Australia's main export is iron ore, followed by their other most valuables exports coal, gold, and petroleum. These exports alone rake in $48.2 billion, $47 billion, $29.1 billion, and $20.3 billion, respectively.
The United States is the third-largest producer of cotton after India and China.
The top two cotton producers, India and China, contribute approximately 45-50 percent of the world's production, while the top four producers comprise 70-75 percent of global cotton production. Currently, India is the world's leading producer of cotton, surpassing China recently.
The United States is the leading exporter of cotton worldwide.
Australia's second-largest export sector, services, accounts for nearly three quarters of our economy and more than four out of five Australian jobs.
Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of coal, iron ore, lead and diamonds, with ores forming around 23.5% of Australian exports.
Indeed, education exports are now Australia's third largest export, behind only coal and iron ore.
For iron ore, it remained the largest supplier for China even when relations soured. In 2022, China bought 1.1 billion tonnes of iron ore, 65% of which were from Australia. For Beijing, commodities from Australia are important for its efforts to revive the pandemic-hit economy.
Australia is an important source of export cereals, meat, sugar, dairy produce, and fruit. Landholdings are characteristically large, specialized, owner-operated, capital-intensive, export-oriented, and intricately interlinked through the activities of producers' associations and government organizations.
Australia's largest exports to the US are financial services, gold, sheep/goat meat, transportations services and vaccines. US direct investment in Australia is more than in any other country in the Indo-Pacific.
China remained Australia's largest trading partner in 2021–22, accounting for 27% of our two-way trade. Japan and Korea account for a further 18%. Many Australian companies are diversifying their export markets, and the ASEAN region now accounts for 14% of total trade.
The terms of trade boom was driven by very large increases in the prices of some of Australia's commodity exports. Australia has plentiful supplies of natural resources, including the second largest accessible reserves of iron ore in the world, the fifth largest reserves of coal and significant gas resources.
In Australia, cotton is picked with large mechanical harvesters and gathered into large, round, wrapped modules. The modules are then sent off to a cotton gin for processing. During the ginning process, the lint is separated from the seeds and is then pressed into rectangular bales.
THE AUSTRALIAN COTTON INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE
They are amongst the most efficient cotton farmers on the planet, and operate with the highest environmental and social standards. More than 90% of Australia's cotton farms are owned by Aussie families, which equates to about 80% of the crop being family owned.
The cotton is grown at the Benelong Farm, home of Australian Super Cotton in St George, Queensland.