Laptop imports from China surge during shutdown

Australia's working from home boom saw the importation of laptops and office equipment from China jump by up to 40 per cent during the COVID-19 shutdown in April.

Preliminary data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that while imports dropped $1.33 billion or 5 per cent to $23 billion in April, they were held up by a massive spend in office equipment including computers, printers, scanners, accounting machines and cash registers.

"Of note, imports of laptop computers from China remained strong in April 2020, in line with increased demand during the COVID-19 lockdown period," the ABS said.

"While imports decreased overall, imports from China continued to rebound in April 2020 after decreases were observed at the beginning of 2020."

In April imports of office machines and automatic data processing machines topped $1.43 billion – the highest amount spent since records were kept in 1988, clearly reflecting the surge in people working from home.

The overall drop in imports was driven by the lower value of road vehicles and petrol purchased. Given the collapse in oil prices, the value of fuel imports fell 26 per cent while monthly vehicle imports were at a five-year low of $2.4 billion.

But there were falls across the board with the value of imported footwear its lowest in almost four years, while travel goods and handbags were at their lowest since June 2014.

Credit and debit card data for mid‑April showed spending in Australia was down by almost 20 per cent on the same level a year ago.

While the drop in imports shows domestic demand was weak in April, it helped Australia's trade balance along to $8 billion – the second highest ever after a record $10 billion in March.

Exports also fell $4 billion or 12 per cent in April, down from the record in March of $35.7 billion. The big drop in exports was largely due to a $1.7 billion decrease in gold after a surge in trade during March. Iron ore exports were down $456 million or 4 per cent, while coal was down $412 million or 8 per cent.

Economists expect the trade surplus to continue as imports fall further.

"We think we have not reached the lows in imports going through this crisis so anticipate imports will continue to decline, supporting the trade balance going forward," ANZ's Hayden Dimes said.

"Taken together with the still-strong resource exports in April, it suggests to us the trade balance is likely to perform well over the coming months as China continues to recover."

However, with COVID-19 restrictions demand for imported fuel is likely to stay low.

"Fuel imports are likely to remain depressed for some time with a material and sustained lift in oil prices unlikely until most economies are operating with fewer social distancing restrictions."

CommSec's Craig James noted that the low fuel prices would serve to further boost recovery in consumption.

"For retail stocks, petrol prices are still historically low, so the savings at the petrol pump are still valuable in supporting consumer spending," Mr James said.

How the overall trade balance may help contribute to the economic growth is difficult to assess because the ABS data is preliminary and provided on a customs basis and is not seasonally adjusted.