Australia is a country with a population of just over 24 million, but it is the 13th economy in the world and its economy is staggering. Australia has five major industries with global importance, namely natural resources, agricultural products and food, international education, tourism and financial services.

For Chinese investors who immigrate to Australia, if there are needs and plans for investment and business in Australia, then it may be useful to first familiarize yourself with the five major industries in Australia.

Resources and energy exports

Australia has the advantage of natural resources, and exports of minerals and fuel commodities rank among the top four in the world. It plays a strategic role in energy supply and demand in the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia has the largest uranium resources in the world, is the world’s second largest exporter of LNG, and is one of the top five producers of major minerals worldwide, including gold, iron ore, lead, zinc and nickel. Renewable energy is also expected to grow substantially, and renewable energy is expected to account for 20% of electricity generation between 2034 and 2035.

It is understood that Australia is the world’s second largest gold producer after China and has many of the world’s largest gold mines. However, as China’s domestic gold production is far less than the rate of demand increase, and the development of new deposits is increasingly difficult, it is necessary to import a large amount of gold from Australia every year. The data shows that in 2017 Australia’s total gold exports in the first quarter was 75 tons, and China and Hong Kong alone accounted for 57.4 tons!

China is still a big country with iron ore demand, and 90% of iron ore needs to be imported. As the world’s largest exporter of iron ore, Australia has undertaken 70% of China’s iron ore imports.

In addition, Australia is the second largest exporter of LNG in the world, and China is Australia’s second largest LNG export market.

Important agricultural products and food exports

Australia has the world’s cleanest, green and safe food producers and food suppliers, and enjoys a high reputation around the world, which is very practical to cater to people’s demand for food.

Due to geographical location and other reasons, Australia has become the largest exporter of agricultural products and food to Asia, and is one of the top ten producers of the following agricultural products and foods: almonds, wool, cotton, lamb, beef, barley and sugar cane.

In the eyes of many Chinese, Australian food represents high quality, natural and non-polluting. Therefore, Chinese consumers have always favored Australian food. At present, China is the third largest export market for Australian agricultural products, especially after the gradual implementation of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which has brought about business opportunities for trade, investment and other cooperation between the two countries.

Financial services industry

Australia’s mature financial services industry is the industry that contributes the most to the Australian economy. The industry has more than 7.5 trillion Australian dollars of assets, has the fourth largest pension asset pool (2 trillion Australian dollars), has the world’s sixth largest investment fund asset pool (1.6 trillion US dollars), and is the third largest in Asia Stock market (market value of 1 trillion US dollars, based on the market value of free floating stocks).

In recent years, as Asian wealth and the middle class continue to grow, many Australian companies are interested in developing financial services markets in Asia, especially China.

According to statistics, the number of high-net-worth individuals with a personal investment of more than 10 million yuan in China has exceeded 1 million. The number of overseas net investment among high-net-worth individuals has doubled in the past four years, and nearly half of them have considered increasing. The Australian market will be one of the main investment targets for overseas asset allocation.

International education industry

Australian higher education institutions have become the third most popular destination for study abroad due to high quality teaching, safe campus environment and world-wide recognition.

The rapidly growing international education industry has leapt to the top of Australia’s export services industry and became the country’s third largest export industry in 2016, generating $20 billion in revenue for the country in one year!

According to data released by the Australian government, the number of international students in Australia reached 820,800 in 2017, and nearly 600,000 of them have paid full tuition fees. Nearly 70% of these international students are studying management, business, engineering or information technology.

It is worth mentioning that China has been Australia’s largest source of international students for four consecutive years since 2014.

Tourism and related investment

Australia has always been one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world. It has become the eighth largest tourism market in the world and one of the countries with the highest per capita consumption expenditure of tourists worldwide.

Tourism makes an important contribution to the Australian economy (2.4% of GDP). In the 2017 Tourism Outlook report released by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australia received 8.6 million foreign tourists in 2016-17, and foreign tourists spent A$39.8 billion in Australia, of which Chinese tourists contributed nearly A$10 billion.

The strong demand from international tourists is expected to drive the future investment prospects of the industry. Under this background, all relevant practitioners and investors will see the opportunities and actively explore the market.

The data shows that there are 204 tourism-related investment projects in Australia in 2016-17 with a total investment of A$37.8 billion. In the past two years, investment in the three major areas of tourism in Australia has remained strong: aviation ($10.1 billion), arts, leisure and business services ($17 billion), and accommodation ($10.8 billion).

In summary, it can be seen that almost all of Australia’s five pillar industries have huge natural complementarities between China, which also makes trade between the two countries very close, which means that there is a relationship between the two countries. A lot of business opportunities.

Whether you can snoop and seize the opportunities, you must test the vision and ability of immigrant investors.