ICT trade gap widening, warns ACS

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 22 September 2009 07:58

IT Industry - Market

We'll start with services exports.

The US is the biggest export market for both the communications and computer & information segments, accounting for 20% and 29% respectively.

On the communications side, other major markets are Hong Kong (14%), the UK (6%) and New Zealand (6%).

It's a somewhat different story for computer & information exports, where 6% goes to the UK, 4% to New Zealand and 4% to Singapore.

When it comes to equipment exports, the pattern changes again.

New Zealand takes 23% of Australian ICT equipment exports, followed by the US on 17%, and China on 14%.

Other significant customers include Singapore (7%) and Germany (5%). But export destinations are very diverse, with the top ten only representing 78% of the market.

So if exports are going well, whose 'fault' is the trade deficit? Please read on for the answer.