Since Australia established formal diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China in 1972, the country’s fortunes have become increasingly linked to the Middle Kingdom. No Western country’s economy has benefitted more from China’s rise than Australia. Much of China’s unprecedented economic growth has been built with Australian iron ore and powered by Aussie coal and liquified natural gas. In a way, Australia’s resource traders blazed a trail for Australian exporters, teaching cultural lessons about doing business in China, and raising China’s profile as a destination for exports.
Since Chinese consumers have started entering the middle class, Australian brands have been relatively quick to make their goods and services available to them. Over the past couple of Singles’ Days, Australian products have been the third and fourth highest ranking country for product origin, even though Australia isn’t even in the top-50 countries by population.
Australia’s success in exporting to China always had pretty good odds. Australia’s relatively close proximity to China, in both flight time and time zones, makes it easier to get up to the market to do business. And unlike other major western economies, Australia doesn’t have a large domestic base or similar countries close by to send their wares, so it has always had to be a little more adventurous when prospecting for export markets. It is also the often-unthanked Chinese residents in Australia and visiting tourists who have helped promote many Australian things to their friends and family back in the Mainland. No country outside of Asia has more people of Chinese heritage per capita than Australia, on top of the 1.4 million Chinese who visited Australia last year.
In 2017-2018 Australia’s exports to China were $123.3 billion, or 30.6% of total exports. This dwarfs Australia’s number two destination of Japan where exports were $51.3 billion. Over the past five years, exports to China have surged 56%, whereas Japan grew by just 6%. Yet it’s not all Kumbaya and shrimp and steak barbecues, Sino-Australian relations have deteriorated lately, particularly over the past-12 months.
Australia’s position as one of the pioneering, best practice and reliant exporters to China – balanced with its increasingly precarious stance on geopolitics – makes it one of the most important and interesting relationships to monitor in today’s globalised world. That’s why China Skinny was honoured to be back again this year working with Austcham Shanghai on the second annual Westpac Australia-China Business Sentiment Survey which launched yesterday in Sydney. The survey provides a platform to really understand how Australian businesses on the ground in China are faring in light of the geopolitical tensions and slowing economic growth.
To Australian businesses’ credit, we had 211 complete the survey this year – 33% more than last year. Overall, sentiment was down 6.7% from last year but remained largely optimistic – with 71.6% either optimistic or slightly optimistic about the next 12-months; 81.5% in their five-year outlook. The results also pleasingly demonstrated an increase in Australian businesses’ forecasting profitability in 2019 – a strong 78.9%, from 62.5% in 2018.
One of the promising findings from the survey was that Australian businesses appear to be maturing and realising that China is a market that requires tailored initiatives. 61.1% of businesses surveyed will offer unique products and services for the China market this year – and are 32% more profitable as a result.
Domestic consumption was again considered the most important opportunity for Australian businesses and is also being supported by 26.6% investing in market research and development – 10.7% more than last year. 74.9% have a digital strategy in place or in development, with 59.7% having one that incorporated ecommerce. For those businesses already selling online, they are selling on an average of 2.5 platforms, versus 2 last year. Almost a quarter of businesses surveyed are early adopters of New Retail, with 66.0% of these businesses experiencing a 10% rise in revenue and 55.4% benefitting from increased brand and market insights.
There’s many, many more interesting insights throughout the report. The results aren’t just a barometer for other Australian businesses exporting to China; they provide any company working in China with a great benchmark to understand the common challenges and opportunities. We’d recommend you download the report and see for yourself. You can get it by clicking/tapping here.
A special acknowledgement to our own Alexander Kelso and Austcham Shanghai’s Stephanie Smith, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the survey to life. Go to Page 2 to see this week’s China news and highlights.
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