澳大利亚地理报告 Australia economic report

World geography and economics
Australia
Jilin University – Lambton College
April 18, 2013
Introduction
Australia is a country which located in the south hemisphere. The country is large and beautiful, and has many resources. Then, we are talking about the economic geography.
Economic system
Australia is a capitalist country. Australia is a wealthy country with a market economy, a relatively high GDP per capita, and a relatively low rate of poverty. Ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom, Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the fifth highest per capita GDP at $66,984. The country was ranked second in the United Nation 2011 Human Development Index and first in Legatum’s 2008 Prosperity Index. Total government debt in Australia is about $190 billion–20 per cent of GDP in 2010. Australia has among the highest house prices and some of the highest household-debt levels in the world. Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2-3 per cent and the base interest rate 5-6 per cent. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquefied natural gas and coal. Although agriculture and natural resources account for only 3 per cent and 5 per cent of GDP respectively, they contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China, the US, South Korea, and New Zealand. Australia is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine, and the wine industry contributes $5.5 billion per year to the nation’s economy.
Demography
For almost two centuries the majority of settlers, and later immigrants, came from the British Isles. As a result the people of Australia are primarily of British and /or Irish ethnic origin. The 2011 Census asked respondents to provide a maximum of two ancestries with which they most closely identify. The most commonly nominated ancestry was English. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I. Nevertheless, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometer, remains among the lowest in the world. Much of the population increase came from immigration. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born in another country. Most immigration is skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees. In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and
fewer people of working age. In 2004, the average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years. A large number of Australians live outside their home country.
Resources and environment
Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognized as a mega diverse country. The fungi typify that diversity; the local number that occur in Australia, including those not yet discovered, has been estimated at around 250,000 species, of which roughly 5% have been described. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. Climate change has become an increasing concern in Australia in recent years, and protection of environment is a major political issue. In 2007, the Rudd Government signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, Australia carbon dioxide emission per capita are among the highest in the world, lower than those of only a few other industrialized nations. Australia is rich in mineral resources, known as "sitting on the tub countries". Australia is rich in mineral resources; mineral export industry in Australia is very well developed. Australia is the world's largest bituminous coal, bauxite, lead, diamonds, zinc and concentrate exporter of; second largest alumina, iron ore, uranium more exporting countries; exporting country's third-largest aluminum and gold. In addition, the Australian coal, lithium, manganese ore, nickel, silver production is also quite large.
Manufacturing
Although primary production is the main industry in Australia, manufacturing in Australia is still a significant industry.
The food and beverage manufacturing industry is the largest in Australia.
Australia is one of only a few countries with the capabilities to design cars from scratch and manufacture in significant volumes.
Australian-designed cars are made by local producers Holden and Ford Australia. Toyota Australia also manufactures local variants of its international models, particularly the Camry.
The first major Australian carmaker was the Ford Motor Company of Australia. The first
Australian-designed mass production car was by Holden in 1948.
Australia is best known for the design and production of 'large' sized passenger vehicles. This category has suffered a steady downturn in Australian markets, resulting in a series of cutbacks and plant shutdowns.
Non extra-large production of vehicles achieved a maxima near half a million in 1970s and 400,000 in 2000s. Recently this has fallen to around 200,000 : Australia's car market is now primarily composed of cars imported from Asia and Europe. Despite losing volume to changing customer preferences and economic reforms, the Australian automotive industry has a significant heritage and its cars continue to attract a devoted base of customers.
Agriculture
Australia is a major agricultural producer and exporter. Agriculture and its closely related sectors earn $155 billion-a-year for a 12% share of GDP. Australian farmers and graziers own 135,997 farms, covering 61% of Australia’s landmass. Across the country there is a mix of irrigation and dry-land farming. The CSIRO has forecast that climate change will cause decreased precipitation over much of Australia and that this will exacerbate existing challenges to water availability and quality for agriculture.
There are three main zones: the high rainfall zone of Tasmania and a narrow coastal zone; wheat, sheep zone , and the grazing of sheep and the pastoral zone
Australia produces a large variety of primary products for both export and domestic consumption.
Services
About Service in Australia，there are three important kinds of Service，they are Tourism，Education ，Financial Service
Tourism is an important industry for the Australian economy. In the financial year 2010/11, the tourism industry represented 2.5% of Australia's GDP at a value of approximately A$35 billion to the national economy. This is equivalent to tourism contributing $94.8 million a day to the Australian economy. Domestic tourism is a significant part of the tourism industry, and was responsible for 73% of the total direct tourism GDP.
The 2010-11 financial year saw a record number of overseas arrivals in the financial year, with 5.9
million short-term visitor arrivals to Australia. Tourism employed 513,700 people in Australia in 2010-11, or which 43.7% of total tourism employed persons were part-time. Tourism also contributed 8.0% of Australia's total export earnings in 2010-11.
Popular Australian destinations include the coastal cities of Sydney and Melbourne, as well as other high profile destinations including regional Queensland, the Gold Coast and the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest reef. Uluru and the Australian outback are other popular locations, as is Tasmanian wilderness. The unique Australian wildlife is also another significant point of interest in the country's tourism.
. Tertiary education in Australia is education consists of both government and private institutions. A higher education provider is a body that is established or recognized by or under the law of the Australian Government, a State, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory. VET providers, both public and private are registered by State and Territory governments.
In 2009, the Australian higher education system consisted of:
41 universities, of which 37 are public institutions, 2 are private, and 2 are Australian branches of overseas universities;
3 other self-accrediting higher education institutions
Currently, the Australian banking sector is dominated by four major banks: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation.
The Australian government has announced that it has adopted a "four pillars" policy and will reject any mergers between the four major banks.[3] This is long-standing policy rather than formal regulation, but it reflects the broad political unpopularity of bank mergers. A number of leading commentators have argued that the "four pillars" policy is built upon economic fallacies and works against the nation's better interests.
Transportation
There are many varying forms of transport in Australia. The nation is highly dependent on road
transport. The development of transport infrastructure in Australia has been almost entirely related to moving commodities for sale in cities or to gaining access to seaports.
Roads
Australians drive on the left hand side of the road.
Road infrastructure in Australia is generally very good. Australia has the second highest level of car ownership in the world. It has three to four times more road per capita than Europe and seven to nine times more than Asia. But Sydney has the worst congestion problems .
Rail
Rail infrastructure in Australia has never received much government support. While current rail infrastructure has sufficient capacity to deal with demand.
Air
Australia currently has 408 airports, 15 of which serve as major intersections and destinations. The national air carrier is Qantas Airways. The country's second largest air carrier, There are an additional 254 regional airports with paved runways across the country.
Sea and waterways
Australia's inland waterways are not a significant means of commercial transport. It has 14 major seaports which are currently under-utilized, and most ports have the infrastructure to meet demand for the next 2 decades.
Cane railways
In Queensland about 15 sugar mills have narrow gauge cane trainways that deliver sugar cane to the mills.
Like many economic activities that are intensive in infrastructures, the transport sector is an important component of the economy impacting on development and the welfare of populations.
Communication
Satellites are used to provide telecommunications services in very remote areas. There are also a number of satellite earth stations, which provide access points into the Australian networks.
The Australian government had previously called for proposals to build an Fibre to the Node (FTTN) broadband network providing download speeds of 12Megabits per second or more to at least 98% of Australian homes and businesses.
Cities and urbanization
The Population density (people per sq. km) in Australia was last reported at 2.90 in 2010, according to a World Bank report published in 2012.
There are many high ranking world cities in Australia.
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city inAustralia. In June 2010 the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people.
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia
Australia is country which has a heigh level of urbanization. 85% of the people live in towns, it mainly
developed by the form of suburb sprawl. West suburb in Sydney has grew from 50 miles to 120 miles. Based on analysis, there are also problems because of suburb sprawl. Such as, it put on heavy stress on infrastructure and service. And it increased the economic and environmental cost.
Consumption
The major Australian consumer dairy products are drinking milk, cheese, butter and butter blends, and yogurt.
Per capita consumption of major dairy products (litres/kg)
Milk (l) Cheese (kg) Butter/Blends (kg) Yogurt (kg)
2005/06 100.2 11.3 4.1 6.6
2006/07 103.4 12.0 3.8 7.1
2007/08 103.0 12.5 4.1 6.9
2008/09 102.6 12.9 4.0 6.7
2009/10 (r) 102.4 13.1 3.8 7.1
2010/11 (r) 104.4 13.7 3.9 7.3
2011/12 (p) 106.2 13.4 3.9 7.5
Source: Dairy manufactuers and Dairy Australia
Per capita consumption trends over the past two decades have varied quite significantly by individual product. These trends reflect changes in consumer tastes and preferences in response to a multitude of variables
Wine was increasing and the market share was also increasing then we actually see that the reality is that it's actually increasing quite considerably and substantially for the last decade and a half.
In the past few years, according to statistics sugar consumption is rising rapidly
The Electric power consumption (kWh per capita) in Australia was 11113.31 in 2009, according to a World Bank report, published in 2010.
International trade & investment
Australia is the late-starter in the developed capitalist countries. In 2011 gross domestic product (GDP) ranking 13th in the world, per capita GDP of $65477 ranks sixth in the world. Australian farming and animal husbandry developed, has abundant natural resources, be famous for "riding on the sheep's back country", "sitting in the car on the country" and "carrying grain in the country," said. Australia on long-term exports of agricultural products and earn lots of income of mineral resources, rich in sheep, cattle, wheat, and sugar. At the same time, it is also the important mineral resources in producing and exporting countries. Since the 1970 s, Australia's economy has undergone major structural adjustment, tourism and service industry rapid development, gradually increase the proportion of GDP, the current has reached about 70%. Gold industry developed, has become one of the world's biggest gold country.
Although Australia’s products and worldwide industry have a big international influence, but in terms of volume and diversity is still a "small" country. It is not large enough to be able to use its own tariffs and other types of trade restrictions have beneficial effect on itself. Therefore, the importance of the multilateral trading system is obvious to countries like Australia. At the same time, Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, it monopolize the continent with the western developed countries far away. It cannot use location advantage into the EU or North America free trade area agreements to expand their trade. Therefore, for Australia, based on the rules of non-discriminatory multilateral trading system is the best choice.
International trade patterns
Australia depends on international trade. 2009/2010 Australian foreign trade total amount is $590 up 5.3% from a year earlier, and $8.9 billion trade surplus. Australia has trade relations with more than 130 countries and regions. Currently, Australia's main trading partners in order for China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, India, Singapore, Britain, New Zealand, Thailand, Germany, and etc.
Historically, Australia's largest trading partners were Great Britain and the rest of Europe. This historical
trading relationship reflected Australia's colonization by Great Britain and the British need for new markets for manufactured goods as well as sources of raw materials. The cultural affiliation between Australia and its "mother country" also contributed to this historic trading pattern. Since the 1970s, however, Australia's international trade has shifted towards Asia and Pacific countries. When Great Britain joined what is now known as the European Union in the 1970s, Australia lost many trading advantages with that country and sought new markets closer to home. Japan, Singapore, other Southeast Asian countries, and the United States have all become important Australian trading partners. The composition of Australia's exports has largely remained the same, but new markets (including more recently South America and the Middle East) have been sought. The marked failure of some key Southeast Asian economies, particularly Indonesia, Thailand, and Hong Kong in the late 1990s, has had only a limited effect on the Australian economy. As of 2001, political events outside Australia, such as disturbances in the neighboring countries of Indonesia and Fiji, have had almost no impact on Australia's trade.
Degree of development
Foreign trade is an important part of the Australian economy. 2009/2010 fiscal year (July 1, 2009 to 30 June 2010); the Australian trade amounted to $513.81 billion. Among them, exports to a $254.33 billion fell 10.6% year on year. Import a $259.48 billion fell 6.8% year on year. Giving full play to the advantage of its abundant natural resources, Australia has become the important commodity exporters. Its traditional export products for minerals and agricultural products, livestock products, imported mainly manufactured goods. Australia insisted that global trade liberalization policies. The government implements the multilateral trading system. The regional trade and bilateral free trade agreement work together.
Conclusion
All in all, Australia is good country to do business with, such as good services, great tourism and high GDP. And there are many potential markets which are waiting to develop. So, go to Australia to do your business.。