In Australia, approximately half of the country's air freight arrived or departed from Sydney, with the rest spread across Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Less than five percent landed or took off from other cities.
Over the last couple of financial years, there is a bias towards imports by air in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In each of these cities, imports were worth around four times the value of exports. However, for Perth this trend is reversed; exports by air from the city had a value of around double that of imports.
When considering trade volume, the import volume was higher at Sydney airport; Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports all had a higher volume of exports.
br> Australia's highest value import in the financial year 2018 was machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment. These products accounted for nearly 30 billion Australian dollars in value. Elsewhere, chemical products, as well as optical, medical equipment and musical instruments accounted for around 20 billion Australian dollars worth.
The same product groups accounted for Australia's highest value exports in the same year; machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment with a value of around 5.4 billion Australian dollars were exported. Optical, medical equipment and musical instruments and chemical products with a combined value of just under seven billion Australian dollars were also exported.
Australia's largest exports were live animals and animal products. In the financial year 2018, the country exported 165 thousand metric tons of these products. By comparison, the next largest export category was prepared foods and drinks; 105 thousand metric tons were exported.
