Data on Thursday showed that Australia's commodity trade surplus in May fell to a low of nearly five years as liquefied natural gas exports were hit and capital imports grew strongly. The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that the merchandise trade surplus fell to 2.2 billion Australian dollars in May, the lowest level since August 2020, far below the market forecast of 5 billion Australian dollars. The merchandise trade surplus was revised down to $4.9 billion in April. Exports fell 2.7% in May, affected by exports of liquefied natural gas and meat products. Imports jumped 3.8% to a record high in May, driven by imports of transportation equipment, aircraft and automobiles.

Data on Thursday showed that Australia's commodity trade surplus in May fell to a low of nearly five years as liquefied natural gas exports were hit and capital imports grew strongly. The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that the merchandise trade surplus fell to 2.2 billion Australian dollars in May, the lowest level since August 2020, far below the market forecast of 5 billion Australian dollars. The merchandise trade surplus was revised down to $4.9 billion in April. Exports fell 2.7% in May, affected by exports of liquefied natural gas and meat products. Imports jumped 3.8% to a record high in May, driven by imports of transportation equipment, aircraft and automobiles.