Trade fell 4.7 percent last financial year, but Port Botany still records eighth consecutive year of container trade increases
Despite a 4.7 percent dip in total trade in the last financial year, Sydney’s Port Botany has recorded its eighth consecutive year of container trade increases.
Total container trade through Port Botany reached 1.784 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, which is up 0.3 percent on the same time last year.
The dip in total trade has been put down to a decrease in imports which is blamed on the cessation of the motor vehicle trade through Glebe Island last November as well as the reduction in crude oil imports.
Sydney Ports Corporation Chief Executive Grant Gilfillan says the container trade increase is attributed to a 14.9 percent growth in exports such as timber, cereals, machinery and transport equipment over the last financial year.
Gilfillan says the majority of exports are going to China, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.
“Cereal exports [including wheat and barley] continue to grow strongly as a result of favourable growing conditions in the North West and Central West regions of the state, up 54.6 percent on last year,” Gilfillan says.
“Another standout adding to growth is timber, with demand from China boosting timber exports by 71.3 percent.”