Trade Statistics

Building Products

Supported by a booming building and construction industry in South-East Queensland in recent years, imports of building products through the port have witnessed significant growth levels.

This category includes stone, tiles, bricks, glass, and plastics that are used for building and construction purposes.

Building products are sourced from a variety of countries including Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Italy, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and Spain.

Cement/Clinker

Brisbane features two major cement production facilities, Cement Australia and Sunstate Cement Ltd, both of which service markets in South-East Queensland, Northern New South Wales, and Central and Western Queensland. Imports of raw materials for the production of cement powder to supply requirements for both bagged and bulk cement are dependent upon infrastructure developments and local building needs in these regions.

State-of-the-art technology has been adopted by both Brisbane facilities to meet production demands. As a result, they are jointly capable of producing approximately 2.4 million tonnes of cement powder annually. Cement is the second largest commodity in volume that is imported through Brisbane, surpassed only by oil.

Coal

In close proximity to the Port of Brisbane, thermal coal is mined from the Jeebropilly, Oakleigh, Acland, and Wilkie Creek collieries in the Ipswich, West Moreton and Surat Basin regions. The coal is transported by rail to the Queensland Bulk Handling facility on Fisherman Islands.

In 2005/2006 over 4.1 million tonnes of coal crossed the wharf, predominantly destined for Japan, making coal Brisbane’s largest exported commodity by volume. Other export destinations include the United States of America, Chile, and New Caledonia.

Cotton

The Port of Brisbane is regarded as Australia’s number one cotton port, exporting bulk and containerised cotton and cotton seed. Servicing a number of significant growth regions, particularly in Northern New South Wales and South-East Queensland, Brisbane handles approximately 50% of Australia’s cotton exports.

Specialist cotton storage facilities have been developed at the Port of Brisane to service this trade, including warehouses for the storage and packing of cotton, and specialist bulk facilities for cotton derivatives such as cotton seed.

Cotton exports are predominantly destined for Asian trading partners including Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, China, and Singapore. The bulk of cotton seed exports are destined for Japan, but the United States also provides a considerable market for cotton seed, where it is used for stock feed.

Fertilisers/Chemicals

The Port of Brisbane services a hinterland that supports both agricultural and mining sectors - industries traditionally reliant on fertilisers and chemicals. Cotton, grain, cereals, beef, pork, and wool are just some of the rural enterprises trading through the port that rely on fertilisers and chemicals to maintain an economic edge in very competitive markets.

Brisbane is well serviced to supply the ever-increasing demand for rural inputs. Incitec Pivot and Summit are two major suppliers of fertilisers shipped through the port, and both maintain facilities in close proximity to the wharves.

Grain/Cereals

Brisbane’s proximity to both traditional and expanding grain-producing regions has seen the development of facilities at the port capable of handling exports of up to 2 million tonnes of grain per annum. These facilities, although purpose-built for grain, are also able to handle a wide range of other products and materials.

Grain, and traditionally wheat, have contributed significantly to the prosperity of the regions supported by the Port of Brisbane. However, drought conditions over the past couple of years have heavily impacted the grain industry, and saw exports fall to 837,006 tonnes in 2005/2006.

Grain and cereals are predominantly shipped to our Asian neighbours, including Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong, with some exports also received by New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Iron and Steel

Iron and steel trade at the Port of Brisbane has grown significantly in recent years, and now represents the fourth largest non-oil export through the port.

Scrap metal is sourced from South-East Queensland and some northern regions for transport to Brisbane and export to a variety of destinations, including China, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, and Indonesia, where it is used as an input in the manufacture of steel.

Manufactured steel is imported through Brisbane from origins including South Korea, Japan, China, New Zealand and Taiwan to service the South-East Queensland housing and construction industry. This trade continues to perform strongly for the Port of Brisbane.

Meat and Meat Products

Brisbane is Australia’s leading port for the export of meat products, shipping approximately 50% of Australia’s beef exports. The Port of Brisbane is Australia’s leading port in the export of beef, tallow, hides, and meat- and bone-meal.

Meat products and tallow combine to represent just under 10% of total major non-oil exports from the Port of Brisbane.

Major export markets include Japan, China, North America, and South Korea, in all of which the Port of Brisbane holds significant market shares for Australian meat and meat products exports.

Meat product exports comprise chilled and frozen meats, and offal derived from beef, pork, sheep and lamb, goat, horse, and game meat. Product is sourced from some of the largest meat-processing plants in Australia, which are located within 150 kilometres of the Port of Brisbane. Central and North Queensland producers also use the services and facilities available at the Port of Brisbane, including the Brisbane Multimodal Terminal for fast and efficient rail transfer of export containers through the port.

Mineral Sands

A variety of mineral sands are handled at the Port of Brisbane, including silica sand, rutile, zircon, and ilmenite.

The Port of Brisbane exports mineral sands to The Netherlands, United States, Italy and Asian markets, including Japan, China, and Taiwan.

The sands are used as input components for a variety of finished products. Rutile, for example, is used in the aerospace industry, and also in the manufacture of paints, paper, plastic, cosmetics and surgical equipment. Zircon is used for glazes in the ceramics industry and to produce television screens.

Transport Equipment/Motor Vehicles

Vechile processing is undertaken at the Motor Vehicle Precinct at the Port of Brisbane.  The 28ha precinct is capable of storing up to 14,900 cars. The Port of Brisbane maintains a market share of approximately 25% of total Australian East Coast motor vehicle imports.

Transport Equipment and Motor Vehicles, including trucks, buses and farm machinery, account for just under 5% of all non-oil imports through the Port of Brisbane. Over 50% of this trade from Japan. Other include Thailand, the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Oil

Oil is the major commodity shipped through the Port of Brisbane, with crude oil accounting for nearly 30% of all trade, and refined oil accounting for over 14%.

Crude Oil imports are predominantly sourced from the Asian region, including Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore in addition to the United Arab Emirates, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia. In return, refined petroleum products are exported through the Port of Brisbane to a number of these destinations, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and China, as well as Singapore.

There are two refineries operating out of Brisbane, BP at Bulwer Island and Caltex Australia at Lytton.

Retail

The retail industry covers a diverse range of products, such as agricultural equipment, electrical goods, paper, gifts and personal products, and foodstuffs (including dairy, seafood and processed products).

Retail is an important industry for the Port of Brisbane from both an import and export perspective. Import trade in retail products has grown significantly at the Port of Brisbane recently, as a result of strong consumer spending and the rising Australian dollar.

The future trade growth of retail imports in Brisbane is assured as a result of high population growth rates of both Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland. Additionally, several product categories benefit from fast delivery times to southern destinations, particularly for companies that import from Southern Asia. Several significant retail importers have established warehouses and distribution centres at the Port of Brisbane or within the Australia TradeCoast region, including The Warehouse Group, Crazy Clarks, and Berri.

Woodchips

Woodchip exports through the Port of Brisbane at Fisherman Islands began in 1989 following the establishment of a world-class facility for the receival and storage of softwood chip. A grain loader and conveyor system is used to successfully transfer woodchip from stockpile to ship.

Future trade growth for the woodchip facility operated by Queensland Commodity Exports on Fisherman Islands is guaranteed following the decision by a Japanese consortium to develop plantations to grow 10,000 hectares of hardwood timber for woodchip exports.