AUSTRALIA is expanding its US trade service to Australian exporters following a decrease in, or elimination of, 5,480 US tariffs for product items as a result of the recently enforced Australia-US Free Trade Agreement.
There are currently 10 Austrade offices throughout the US, however Austrade is engaging 30 new export facilitators to advise on the US market. New advisers are already in place in Denver, Miami and Houston.
Austrade said it had identified a large number of products where tariff reductions would have an immediate effect and urged companies to take advantage of these reductions through its expanded service.
Food items, particularly dairy and seafood, (with substantial tariff reductions on certain products), offered excellent opportunities for Australian exporters, Austrade said.
The $200 billion government and homeland security markets, as well as licensing and franchising, professional services, plus emerging sectors like energy, desalination and solar products were other sectors identified.
$A tipped to stay high
DESPITE a recent fall, the Australian dollar is expected to average higher for the remainder of 2004-2005, according to the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics. ABARE expects to average about US74 cents for the full financial year after averaging around 72 cents during the first half of the year.
The Australian dollar increased significantly against the US currency last quarter largely because of the effect of increased world oil prices on financial market sentiment, ABARE said.