• • HISTORY
  • OBJECTIVES
  • EXECUTIVE BOARD
• • Membership Advantages
  • Members
• • VISAS
  • TRADE MISSIONS
  • COMMITTEES

The economies of Brazil and Australia are sustained to a large extent by the force of their farming and their natural resources, and are two of the largest countries in the world. Despite their geographic and economic similarities, there is a huge distance between them and a very complex set of logistics, which could have hindered trade relations. However, Brazil is Australia´s oldest diplomatic partner and largest trading partner in South America, having signed their first agreement in 1978. In spite of this, their trading relations continued to be tentative until the late 1990s.

At the beginning of the 21st century, trade between these two countries, which had never exceeded US$ 1 billion, increased to $2.7 billion. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between 1999 and 2009, Brazilian exports to Australia grew at a rate of 17% per year, while Australian imports grew by 14%.

Between 2009 and 2013, Brazil's trade with Australia grew 20.7%, from $ 1.3 billion to $ 1.6 billion. During this period, exports fell by 8.5% and imports rose 37.8%.

From another perspective, at the turn of the century, less than a thousand Brazilians were studying in Australia. By 2014, that number had grown to almost 20,000. There were also very few travel agencies dealing with Australia whereas today there are many.

This means that in an increasingly globalized and competitive world, relations between these two Southern giants are becoming stronger with each passing year, bringing benefits not only to their respective economies, but also for the economic, social and cultural development of the two countries.

As might have been expected, two sectors in particular contributed greatly towards this growth in trade relations: mining and farming.

As published in the Brazil Global Net report, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2012: "There seems to be good potential for intensifying the current volume of trade between Brazil and Australia, especially considering the move towards closer trade and personal relations."