New South Wales SMEs accessing new gateways to China

Media Release by National Australia Bank

17 April 2015

Goldwind Australia is one of many local New South Wales companies successfully working with Chinese business, according to a new report launched locally today in Sydney. Commissioned by the Australia China Business Council (ACBC) and sponsored by NAB, the 2014 Australia-China Trade Report is the only report of its kind to provide such a deep analysis of the benefits to Australian households from trade with China.

The research has identified that the Australia-China economic relationship is broader than previously assumed, with considerable new growth opportunities for Australian businesses in agribusiness, manufacturing, real estate, tourism, education and finance and professional services.

Goldwind Australia –the local subsidiary of Goldwind Science and Technology, an international, multi-faceted wind power company – is working cohesively with Chinese counterparts as part of global value chains. As a first-time Chinese investor, Goldwind has managed to integrate in the local Australian job market and benefit from the pool of local talent available to grow its business on Australian shores.

Goldwind operates across the whole value chain of wind energy solutions – from installing wind turbines, to selling and operating wind farms with business partners (including local wind project developers), dealing with international buyers of completed projects and liaising with Australian and Chinese banks to provide long-term finance. Participating in global value chains were a prominent topic in the report, as they have traditionally been difficult for Australian businesses to penetrate.

“The success for Goldwind – and many other businesses in New South Wales – is good news for Australia, as access to global value chains has previously been fairly hard to navigate” said Mr Shane Ditcham, State General Manager, NAB Business.

“By building and maintaining business relationships with China, New South Wales SMEs are finding new avenues to connect them with growing global networks.

“For those thinking about conducting business in China, this report provides a solid foundation from companies who have taken these steps before them, and reaped the rewards”.

Key findings from the report include:

• Two-way trade with China per Australian household increased five-fold from A$3,400 in 2009 to A$16,985 in 2013
• Direct trade from Australia to China contributes 5.5 per cent to Australian GDP, amounting to $79,150 million
• Nearly 200,000 Australian jobs (or one in 58 Australian jobs) is sustained by direct export activities to China
• Nearly 90 per cent of Australian firms surveyed describe their two year business outlook with China as optimistic
• 88 per cent of Australian firms surveyed say China is important to their global expansion plans.

About the report:
This year, in preparing the report, the ACBC conducted an exclusive business survey of over 200 Australian firms engaged in Chinese business, predominantly from its membership. The report is supported by case studies from different industries and a new data source, the World Input-Output Database. The 2014 report goes further this year by analysing the impact of Australia-China Trade across industry sectors, including Australia’s integration with global value chains, and the flow-on effects for the Australian economy down to the household level.
The report was prepared thanks to major sponsorship from the National Australia
Bank and seed funding from the Australia China Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),

See here for a full copy of the report.

For further information:

National Australia Bank
Chris Owens
M: +61 (0) 409 945 476

Bill Kyriakopoulos
M: +61 (0) 429 270 523