The value of permits issued to Australian defence exporters declined sharply during the first half of financial year (FY) 2020–21: a trend almost certainly caused by challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Recently updated data published by the Australian Department of Defence’s (DoD’s) Defence Export Controls (DEC) branch shows that by the end of the first half of 2020–21 – or the end of calendar year 2020 – the estimated value of export permits was AUD1.33 billion (USD1 billion).
Australia’s international military sales have grown since the launch of a defence exports strategy in 2018. (Australian DoD)
This represents a 60% decline on the value of permits recorded by the DEC for the first half of FY 2019–20 when the value was AUD3.37 billion. For the first half of FY 2018–19 the value of export permits was AUD3.70 billion, while in FY 2017–18 it was AUD498.5 million.
The statistics also show that the number of export permit applications for the first half of FY 2020–21 was 1,811, which is only a slight decline from the same period last year. In the first half of FY 2018–19 the number of permit applications was 1,978.
In the full FY 2019–20 period the value of Australia’s defence export permits reached a high of AUD5.26 billion: a 7% year-on-year increase over the value of AUD4.90 billion in FY 2018–19. In FY 2017–18 the value of export permits was comparably low at AUD1.59 billion.
During the first half of FY 2020–21 export permits were issued to end users mainly in North America and Europe. This is consistent with previous years.
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